An Escapist Date
by RavensMind
Summary: Rocky relationships between Robin and Starfire, and Terra and Beast Boy while hosting some of the other Titans lead them all wanting some space. Robin and Raven go out to eat, Terra goes to a movie, and the three find themselves learning and doing more than they planned. It gets complicated and messy for the team, but they grow and learn to enjoy new things.
1. Chapter 1

(This is a reworked version of The Day After. I had a few competing ideas when I wrote it, and I think this works better. As always, hope you enjoy it, and reviews are greatly appreciated).

~RavensMind~

 **An Escapist Date**

 **Chapter 1: The Ace of Clubs**

The sun was beginning to dip as Raven began her meditation on the roof of Titans tower. She took in a deep breath through her nose and exhaled out through her mouth. Long days like the one she had were best spent on the roof with a mug of tea and a good book. She didn't have either on hand now, so opted for meditation. Relaxation crept its way through her as she eased her emotions. Her friends had been doing a number on her this past week. Robin had been fighting on and off with Starfire, Terra wasn't speaking to Beast Boy, and on top of that – Kid Flash and Bumblebee were staying for the month while the Titans East tower was being updated and renovated, so Cyborg was focused on Bumblebee, and Kid Flash was irritating all the girls by constantly flirting with them. It was the end of their first week, and it already felt like it had been a month to Raven.

TGIF indeed, Raven thought to herself as she hovered above the ground. In her mind, Happiness gave Courage a high five and sat with the other emotions. She pictured her bed and imagined how comfy the pillows would be against her face. But she hadn't eaten dinner yet, she thought with a frown. Only that to get through and she would go to bed early. Her muscles relaxed as she imagined the soft, firm mattress beneath her. It would all fade away once she got to sleep, no more problems until morning.

It hadn't been more than ten minutes since she started meditating before Raven felt his approach through their bond. The masked team leader burst through the door to the roof and slammed it behind him. He approached Raven in quick, heavy steps with a strained expression on his face. Once at her side, Robin sighed and stared out toward the setting sun. Raven didn't acknowledge him, she knew better, he needed to be calm before she would even speak to him. Which she had made clear to him the last few times he had come to her like this. And so, she waited until she sensed his emotions calm. It was taking longer than usual for him to regain his composure. He didn't deserve the additional stress, he did so much, he should be relaxing like her.

"Who started it this time?" Raven asked, breaking the silence.

"She did, again. You think I spend enough time with her, right?" Robin asked.

"As far as I know, yeah. Is that what she wants? You to spend more time with her?" she asked.

"Not exactly. She...wants to take the next step in the relationship, but I don't uh, think its time. There's still a lot she doesn't get about relationships here. Things aren't the same on her planet," he replied.

"That's fair, so why is she pushing you?" she asked.

"I told her I needed to spend more time with her before I made that decision."

"So…what, she doesn't want to leave you alone?"

"Yeah."

"That figures. Should have phrased it differently when you told her what you needed."

"Oh, I know that now," he said with a chuckle, "I tried to explain it to her more and she didn't take it well. Said I wasn't being honest."

"Were you?"

He looked from the sunset into her eyes. She was glad she could tell how he felt based on what she sensed, because the alternative was to guess what his eyes were doing behind his mask.

"I think so, maybe, it's hard to think around here with all the stuff that's been happening. Seems like I can't get a minute to myself," Robin said.

"I know what you mean, this is the first chance I've gotten to meditate since this morning," Raven said.

"Can't have that. Tell you what, why don't you come with me for dinner and drinks tonight? Could use some time away from them for a bit," he said.

"Are you…asking me out?" she asked.

"It's not like that. I know I've been bugging you with this stuff between me and Star a lot, let me take you out as thanks for putting up with it, and…being a good friend," he said with a smile, "c'mon, I could use the company."

She sensed something else in his words and didn't like that is seemed so elusive, but the emotions she saw clearly were genuine, and she knew he kept her best interests at heart. It would be nice to get out of the tower for at least part of the night, and he was offering.

"Did you have a place in mind?" she asked.

"I do, it's a bar and grill club called 'The Four Aces.' Heard about it from one of the detectives at Jump P.D., they host poker tournaments sometimes, supposed to have great burgers," he replied.

"I'll go with you," she said.

"Great, I have a couple things to finish up which might take me a while and then we'll go. Let's leave around nine, ok?" he asked.

"Sounds good to me."

"Okay. I'll let you get back to meditating, and I'll meet you at the tower's entrance at nine."

"See you then."

She watched him go before she turned back to the sunset and shut her eyes. It was easy to resume her meditation, but not as easy to calm her emotions. Despite her best intentions, Passion and Happiness directed her thoughts when she accepted Robin's invitation. It was because her emotions were trying to decipher his. She didn't need to look to know that Robin had glanced back at her before he re-entered the tower. She sensed his apprehension, nervousness, concern, and the last she couldn't place as he left before she had finished sorting through his emotions. What would he have to be nervous about? Maybe the conversation he'd be having with Starfire later? Her mind shifted from analyzing the situation back into meditation, content with the answer.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Arguing with Starfire for the fourth time in a day had stressed Robin out, and they weren't any closer to fixing things. He felt worse about the situation, and was doing his best to put it out of his mind as he concentrated on paying the last few bills for the Titans. Managing the team and their finances wasn't hard, but it felt as though he was struggling a lot lately. Was he letting his problems with Starfire affect his ability to lead? He hoped it wasn't true, though it was harder to give her commands to follow and not expect some impact on things between the two of them later.

He set his pen down and leaned back in his chair as he finished writing the last check. Now he just had to make it to nine and he would get a much-needed break from the tower. It was around seven already, he could handle another hour and a half. He'd just go play a game with Terra, or Cyborg, or Beast Boy. Last thing he wanted was to run into Starfire. No way was he having that conversation with her again, especially since Cyborg and Beast Boy were taking sides during their arguments. Luckily Terra hadn't joined in as well, though he was sure Kid Flash and Bumblebee would be right behind Cyborg and Beast Boy. Raven had been immune to the drama, until he dragged her into it.

If they were going to be drinking he probably shouldn't be driving them, which meant getting a cab or asking one of the others to do it. Taking a cab would cost more and he doubted Raven would like it. Whoever he asked had to be cool with not joining them for dinner, be cool about the two of them just hanging out, and not ask for any return favors. He would try Terra first and if she said no, then he'd try one of the others. Getting up from his desk, he left his room and went down the hall to the common room.

Robin walked in and glanced around the room Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing GameStation on the couch, Bumblebee and Kid Flash were talking and eating in the kitchen, and Raven was playing cards with Terra at the table across from the kitchen. He casually stepped over to the table and looked between the two girls. Terra glanced up from her cards and smiled at him, Raven's eyes found his and she gave a small nod.

"Hey Rob, wanna join in?" Terra asked.

"Maybe later, you got a minute?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, sure, don't look at my cards, Rae, I'll know if you do," Terra said as she got out of her chair.

"I don't need to look at your cards to know what you have," Raven said slyly.

Shaking her head at Raven's comment, Terra followed Robin out into the hallway.

"I have a favor I wanna ask," Robin said.

"Ok, shoot," Terra said.

"So, Rae and I are going out for dinner and maybe some drinks tonight just to get away from the tower for a bit, so I don't want to drive us or have her use her powers…just in case we have too much. Could you take us there and then pick us up later?" Robin asked.

"Wait, you're going out with Rae?! Did you break up with Star?!" Terra asked in surprise.

"No, I didn't break up with Star, and it's not a date, we're just getting away for the night!" Robin said.

"Oh, right. Sure I can drive you."

"Thanks. I'll give you the details when we're ready to go around nine, okay?"

"Cool. So, things with you and Star aren't going well, huh?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," he said with a groan.

"You should, it helped me deal with Beast Boy a little."

"No, I already have, I don't wanna keep going over it. You two still not talking?"

"Until he says he's sorry."

"That'll be a while."

"Yeah, I know."

"Who helps you with him?"

"Mostly I talk to Rae, sometimes Cyborg or Bumbleebee. Someone helping you handle Star?"

"Raven. Think I've been stressing her out with it lately."

"I think she's good, or she wouldn't keep helping. She knows what she wants, and I can't decide what I want sometimes, so it's good she can help me figure it out. That how she's helping you?"

"Kinda. I know what I want, it's just, I'm not sure what to do about it.."

"Tough one, "she said with a chuckle, "I'm happy to help too."

"I know, thanks. Guess I've kept you from your game long enough, c'mon," he said as he led her back into the common room.

No one else had moved from their places, save Raven, who was hovering next to the table, reading one of her books. Starfire was nowhere to be seen, but Robin knew she was in her room with Silkie. One of the things he didn't like, Star wouldn't confront him after a fight, she would avoid him and snipe until he came around – which he usually did when he was in the wrong, but he wasn't this time, and she knew it. He sighed and watched as Terra and Raven resumed their game at the table. Sitting in one of the chairs, he watched as they played.

Raven looked from Terra, then to Robin, as if trying to figure out what they might have talked about. It was the look Terra was giving her that tipped her off that it may have been about her. Throughout the game, Raven would get the same look from Terra, and every now and then Robin would flash Raven a wider smile than he normally did. _Out with it already_ , Raven wanted to say, but if it was sensitive, they weren't the only ones in the room. Once she beat Terra and Robin joined in, Raven passed a card over to Terra and held onto it when Terra tried to take it from her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Raven asked pointedly.

"Like what?" Terra asked.

"Like you know a secret of mine that you want me to admit to," Raven replied.

"Maybe I know you're doing something later, maybe I'm driving tonight," Terra said.

"What did you do?" Raven asked Robin.

"Figured she could drive in case we had too much," Robin said, "unless you wanted to take a cab instead?"

"That's fine. Wait…You put an idea in her head too, didn't you?" Raven asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"She's dying to ask me something," she replied.

"Do you think it's a date?" Terra asked bluntly.

If there was color that was redder than red, Robin's face may have shown it. He was awkward when it came to anything romantic, or suggestive. Which Terra would know by now, Robin thought. His eyes moved to Raven's. She was frozen in her seat, pink flushing her cheeks and her amethyst eyes wide. Terra giggled at Raven's reaction which was enough to knock the empath out of her frozen state.

"No, I don't think it's a date. Don't be absurd. If I thought it was, I wouldn't be going. Do you think he or I would hurt Starfire like that?" Raven asked.

"Okay, okay, I got it! I was just playing with you. Not a date," Terra said.

"Speaking of dates, why don't you take the changeling out to a movie? I heard it's kid's night at the theatre so you'd only have to pay for yourself," Raven said.

Terra laughed and caught herself before she let it go on too long.

"Funny, but you know I'm not talking to that green lump right now," Terra said.

"That's the best part, it's a movie theatre, you won't have to talk," Raven said.

"She's got a point," Robin said, picking up a card.

"I'm not going to sit next to him either," Terra said.

"Good news for your hygiene," Raven said dryly.

As the girls kept their banter going, Robin noted Raven's deflection. He knew that she knew there was no way Terra would be doing anything with Beast Boy, but it was a troubling topic for her so it got Terra to stop asking about the night out. It made Robin curious and he watched Raven more closely as they played cards, looking for hints that she might not believe what she had said. He didn't find much, though she did look over to him more than once with a question in her eyes. Could have just been about the game though. Her pale fingers grazed his gloved hand as they discarded at the same time and she quickly retreated. _Okay, maybe it wasn't just the game, after all_ , he thought, _if she looks at me right after that, it's not about the game_. As she reached out and added another card to her hand, her eyes shifted to meet his gaze. _Damn, it's not about the game_.

rrrrrrrrrrRRRRRrrrrr

Ten minutes past nine, Terra dropped off Robin and Raven in front of the Four Aces, and waved at them before pulling away in the T-Car. A line of people leading out of the door and down the block barred any entry. Raven groaned and started to move to the end of the line. She was stopped by Robin, putting his hand on her shoulder and twisting her around, then he directed her to an alleyway. Robin led Raven to a door at the side of the building and knocked twice. It opened and a large, muscle-bound security guard loomed over them.

"You got eyes? The line's over there," the guard said.

"I'm a friend of Detective Harker's, he told me to tell you that I need a couple diamonds for two hearts, and then a king or a jack, whichever one you have tonight," Robin said.

The guard smiled and handed him a silver poker chip, then led them inside. Closing the door behind them, he directed the two Titans to a small stairwell.

"Head up those steps, take a left, second door on your right. Give the guy behind the counter that chip, and he'll take you to your table. Give my best to Harker next time you see him, and tell him this favor is good whenever he wants it," the guard said.

"Got it, thanks," Robin said.

"No problem, you two enjoy yourselves," the guard said before leaving them at the bottom of the stairs to resume his post.

Robin led Raven up the stairs into a small, dimly lit, lavishly decorated hallway. They took a left and went to the second door on the right as they were told, Robin opened it for Raven and they stepped out onto a balcony overlooking the rest of the club. There were booths all around the balcony in small boxes with large windows, effectively shutting out all other noise.

Raven walked over to the railing and looked out over the heads of the other patrons. Most were sitting at packed tables and booths below, all of which surrounded a dance floor and a full bar. Lights of blue, red, green, purple danced on the floor and walls as music bounced and echoed over the dance floor. She looked to her right and saw a more elegant bar stocked with what she could only guess were high-priced bottles and more. A small man behind the counter waved Robin over as her friend displayed the silver chip in his hand. The man led them along the balcony to one of the small boxed booths, opened the door, and let them enter. She sat across from Robin as the man entered and shut the door behind him. She was grateful as she could hear her thoughts clearly again.

"Welcome to the Four Aces VIP Lounge, my name is Cedric and I'll be serving you, would you like a moment to look over the menu before you decide on drinks, or do you know what you want?" the man asked.

"I think we'd like a few minutes," Robin said.

"Of course. I'll be just out there, when you're ready, press the button by the salt shaker there, and I'll be right over," Cedric said.

When the waiter left, Robin passed Raven a menu and began looking it over.

"Quite a place. How did your friend get the VIP favor?" Raven asked.

"He…you know, he didn't say," Robin replied.

"Suppose this place isn't legit?" Raven asked.

"What if it's not? We're not on patrol," Robin replied.

"Robin…ignoring potential crimes, what will the public think? Come to think of it, what should I think?" Raven asked.

"That I'm tired from fighting all the criminals in the city and I needed a break with my friend so I took her to dinner and drinks at a mob club because it was one of the nicest spots in town," Robin replied.

"It would make such a nice article," she said with a giggle.

"I think so," he chuckled, "so what are you getting to drink?"

"I've been dying to know what absinthe tastes like, and it seems this place doesn't care that it's still illegal here, so I'll have that," she said.

"Sounds interesting, I think I'll keep it simple and get a jack and coke to start," he said.

"Already planning for round two?"

"Yeah, aren't you?"

"Oh yes, especially with the week I've had" she chuckled, "why don't we settle on what we're eating too before you call the waiter back."

Once they settled on their food, they called the waiter back in and he took their order before leaving them in a rush. Alone, Robin and Raven got to chatting about what they had been missing out on while they were handling the team during the week. Raven hadn't made it through her book yet, and she wasn't able to make it to the mall to pick up a few things she needed for her expanding wardrobe. Robin didn't get to go to the movie he'd been waiting for a month to release yet, hadn't practiced a few new moves he had recently come up with, and couldn't get a moment to himself.

Their waiter swept back into the booth with their drinks. Raven took hers with a smirk and sipped at it while Robin eagerly took a gulp of his. Before the waiter left them again, he passed Robin a king of clubs.

"This will get you access to the dance floor downstairs, show it to the DJ to request songs, and free drinks at the public bar." The waiter said.

"Wow, uh, thanks," Robin said, as he took the card and turned it in his hand, examining it as if it were a stunning, foreign gem.

"I shall return with your food when it is ready," the waiter said.

When the waiter left, Robin and Raven slipped back into their conversation. Her gaze never left him as he spoke, she took cues from him when he finished with a subject. It wasn't that he couldn't talk to her about it more, it was just that it could get into more intimate territory than he was willing to share with her. Why though? He wondered as he looked her over, taking another sip of his drink. She kept plenty of secrets, he knew, and he had already gone on about Starfire at length with her, maybe she could go deeper with him. Risks had to be taken and he was tired of hiding details from her.

 _Better to ease into it_ , he thought, _hopefully the food is here by then_. He took a sip of his drink and his mind wandered. Inviting her out had been a good idea, he was glad he had done it, he just hadn't expected the place would be so over the top. Not that he wanted to go somewhere else, it was a lot to take in. The private booth, the dance floor below, the VIP treatment in general said quite a lot, he was lucky she hadn't considered this a date – it was a place that would impress anyone he brought along. Still, he could tell she was different here with him, while the rest of her face hid everything, her eyes never lied to him. And they were trained on his.

Raven was in awe of the place, she hadn't thought he would bring her here. Her drink was perfect, their seats were peaceful while still letting them be in the middle of everything, and he was as sweet as ever. Things had been casual between them up until now. _This had to mean something, right?_ Had she been wrong? Was this a date? If it was, he had outdone himself. Her emotions were straining against her control of them, trying to make her express any of them, but she wouldn't dare. Date or not, he was still with Starfire, and she had no right to try anything with him.

She took a long drink from her glass. If her emotions kept up like this, it would be a long night. Maybe the alcohol would help.

"Having a good time?" Robin asked.

"So far. Hope you're not about to ruin it and ask me to dance," Raven replied.

"No, I uh, haven't danced since I went with Kitten to that boat," he said.

"Star stole the last dance with you though," she said.

"Yeah, she did. Hasn't asked me to dance since either."

"Why? Did one of you step on the other's foot?"

"No, just haven't been in a place where we'd dance."

"Oh," she said, pausing to glance over the balcony at the dance floor, "but you are now."

"Huh?"

"Would you like to?"

"What? Dance?"

"I mean it um, wouldn't have to be with me, I just thought I'd ask if you were thinking about it."

"You'd dance with me? Wow, how much alcohol did they put in your drink?" he asked with a laugh.

"Look, I thought I'd offer, you brought me here and…I wanted to do something nice to repay you."

That wasn't the whole truth, but if Raven had said she was interested in dancing with Robin, he would have taken it the wrong way. She didn't dance, couldn't really dance, but knew he could, and hoped he would lead her. She figured that one dance was hardly going to make a difference for him or her. It was a surprise to her that she had asked, but the place inspired her. He inspired her. She watched as he swirled the liquid and ice in his glass, his head down as he did so. She set her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her palm, guessing as to what he was thinking. Clearly, he was torn, the why was probably related to Starfire – who almost never failed to come up in in some way during their conversations. It had gotten on her nerves, was getting on her nerves, and she did her best to seem relaxed. He lifted his head and smiled.

"I guess one dance after dinner would be okay, if it doesn't kill you," he teased.

"Careful, or I won't just be accidentally stepping on your feet," she said.

"I can take it, think I prove that every time we spar in the gym. Unlike some people."

"Oh really? I seem to recall knocking you on your ass last time."

"Only after you used your powers to fling a punching bag at me. Didn't count."

"It's still sore, isn't it?" she teased.

"Hey, have no problem taking you on again if that's what you want, and you'll be the one on your ass at the end."

"Promises, promises."


	2. Chapter 2

~RavensMind~

 **Chapter 2: Two Movies**

Dropping off Robin and Raven was no problem and Terra was happy to do it, as it got her out of the tower without needing an excuse. There were a few reasons why a getaway was something she desperately needed. Between the five of them, they made enough noise to get on each other's nerves occasionally and have fun, but with the additional guests – it was more than enough, and made her feel like running. Beast Boy was the other reason. She shook her head as she drove through the city and whipped the T-car around a corner. Didn't need to keep thinking about that, it was stupid, he was stupid, but she would get over it – she hoped.

 _Perfect night for a movie_ , she thought, as she navigated the T-car through the streets toward the movie theatre. Cyborg had upgraded the car since she'd been in it last, she could tell, as she cranked the wheel and soundlessly skidded around a corner and straightening out with little effort.

She sped past a bookstore and recalled her reunion with the team, or at least one of them. She needed a book for an english class and had gone to the closest bookstore. Of course it had to be Raven's favorite bookstore, dark and filled wall to wall with full bookcases. It took forever to find the novel she needed, but once she finally snagged it - she rushed to the front to buy it. Ran smack into a stack of levitating books that floated in front of her old teammate. Terra was the one to hit the floor, as Raven's power held the books firm.

Terra may have been able to fool Beast Boy by pretending to be someone else, but Raven had sensed it was her. At first, the two said nothing, Raven just gazed down at her in surprise. Terra made to get up and accepted Raven's hand to help her rise.

"Find what you were looking for?" Raven had asked.

"Huh?" Terra had replied.

She didn't in a million years expect that as the reaction she'd receive, especially after how relentless Beast Boy had been in his attempts to get her back. Despite the few extra inches in height and longer hair, Terra noticed that Raven's appearance hadn't changed much over the last few years Raven gave Terra a small smile and asked again.

"I said, did you find what you were looking for, Terra?" Raven had asked.

"Yeah, I did. Uh, so, how are things?" Terra asked.

"Peaceful. It's more than I deserve. The old criminals are gone, frozen in time or locked away. My father and emotions can't control me anymore. A lot has happened. What about you?"

"That's awesome! I've been good, it's my last semester of senior year, so I'm kinda stressed."

"I'm happy for you and a little jealous. You get to have the normal life. Know what you'll do after graduation yet?"

"Not really, college could be cool, but I'm still figuring out what I'd study, ya know?"

"I guess so. Well, if you can't decide, or if you need some help with anything...you know where to find us."

"Like a giant T is hard to forget about?"

"You'd be surprised, I had to give directions to Kid Flash once, and he'd already been to the tower before. He ran too fast to look around and notice our tower. Embarrassing."

"I'll keep it in mind," she chuckled, "I guess Beast Boy isn't interested in getting me back?"

"Oh, he'd die if I told him I spoke to you, which is why I'm going to save it to tell him for a moment when he really pisses me off. He misses you, but accepts your decision not to come back. He ran into your brother and he gets it now."

"My brother was here?!"

"Yeah. Beast Boy wasn't the only one concerned about you, I wasn't even sure it was you until I heard about that."

"Guess I better talk to him."

"Up to you, this is your life now, and I don't want to drag you back into anything… I should go, I've kept you for too long."

"No, it's cool, I've got time. Was good to see you again, and hey, I know it...might not mean much now," Terra said slowly, "but I'm sorry. I'm _so_ sorry for what I did and said to all of you."

"I forgave you a long time ago Terra... we all did. Some of us just want to see you come home, but I know better. You make your own choices. I'll be happy either way," Raven said.

"That means so much, but...wait, you don't care what I do?"

"No, I care a lot... but it's not my place to tell you what to do."

"So, you miss me too?"

"See you around, Terra," Raven said.

Raven had offered her a small smile and then walked off with her floating stack of books toward the cashier. Terra started after her, then stopped herself. She stood in between two bookshelves and watched as Raven paid and then left without another word or look. It had been hard not to run after her and demand an answer, but knew in her heart, Raven wouldn't give her one unless she came back to the team. Instead, she glanced down at her book, and saw the last few years of her life seep out of the cover art. She sighed and strolled to the cashier to pay. She reached for her bag and took out her wallet, but the cashier shook his head.

"Not necessary miss, your friend already paid for your book," the cashier said.

"Oh, thanks," Terra replied.

"I'm not the one you should thank."

Like she had needed the reminder. Once her senior year was over, Terra had spent the summer working, applying to colleges, and not much else. One day, she had spotted Robin and Beast Boy coming out of the video store on her way home from work. They were so...them, but different, older. Robin was taller, so was Beast Boy, just not as tall. She saw Beast Boy's eyes light up when Robin said something and the way he laughed and gestured made her heart beat in a way it hadn't in a long time. That was all it took. She yelled his name and had ran over to them from her place on the street corner, and nearly tackled Beast Boy with a hug. He might have fainted from shock if Robin hadn't been there to keep him from falling back.

"Good to see you again, Terra!" Robin said with a laugh.

"Good? Good?! It's awesome to see you again! I missed you so much!" Beast Boy exclaimed as he held onto Terra.

"I missed you guys too!" Terra said.

"How have you been?" Robin asked.

"Okay I guess, working, trying to get into college, but I'm not sure what I wanna study," she replied.

"Right, Raven said you might go to college," he said.

"WHAT!? When did Raven see Terra?" Beast Boy asked.

"It's been a few months, she ran into you at the bookstore, right?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, we talked a little," she said.

"How come she didn't tell me?" Beast Boy asked.

"I don't know, all I did was ask why she got all those books that day and she told me everything," Robin replied.

"So why didn't _you_ tell me?!" Beast Boy asked.

"I figured Raven would have told you," Robin replied.

"Grrr, gonna talk to her when we get back. So, uh, Terra, wanna hang out?" Beast Boy asked.

"Totally, just for a bit though," Terra said.

Of course it wasn't 'for a bit' and she ended up moving back into Titans Tower a week later. Cyborg and Starfire were happy to have her back, especially Starfire, who insisted on making a special dish for Terra. It took a while for Robin to believe she was staying for good, and Raven was almost as skeptical. Terra got a chance to thank Raven for the book, and an answer. She had been missed. By everybody. The hardest part was getting in tune with her powers again, but she had the whole team's support on the matter - they weren't going to take chances, and neither was she. Meditation with Raven had done wonders, and Cyborg had made a special implant to help. She was home again.

Pulling into the theatre parking lot, Terra almost forgot why she drove over here, and what movie she wanted to see. She got out and walked in between parked cars to the multiplex. She hadn't been to a movie by herself in forever, she always went with her friends, so it was nice to get to choose what to see, when, and the snacks she wanted without debates. Even though it was kids night, the place didn't seem that crowded. When she pulled the doors open and walked inside, she was surprised to see the place was pretty empty, save for a couple small lines at the concessions counter and the ticket counter.

She got a ticket for an action movie that Beast Boy had refused to see, all because the main actor had ruined one of his favorite sci-fi trilogies in a previous role. The rest of the team went to see it, but she stayed home with him to play games instead. Of course when the others got back they were talking about it like they'd never seen anything like it before. Perfect time to see it now, though, when there was no chance he'd say anything to stop her.

While getting her popcorn and soda, she noticed that another movie the team was looking forward to would be coming out next week. _Wonder if we'll be talking by then_ , Terra thought as she walked into the seating area in front of the big screen, thinking of her fight with Beast Boy. He had been ignoring a lot of her ideas and suggestions of things to do in favor of his own and was preventing her from doing certain things, like going to see this movie. She brought it up with him and he denied that he was doing anything like it, then shot down her idea of going to the arcade in favor of his own idea to binge watch the third season of _Droid Rage_. She didn't yell at him, she just stopped talking to him, and it was still pissing him off four days later.

Sighing as she plopped down into a comfy red chair, she smiled quietly to herself. This would be perfect. Just her, the movie, and sweet treats. Flying solo was her style anyway. Once in awhile, she needed to remind herself that there was more to do, and she didn't always need to do things with someone else, or the same person. The previews began to play.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The sliding doors parted as Starfire walked into the living room with Silkie. The first thing she noticed was Robin's absence, the second thing she noticed was the packed couch. Cyborg, Bumblebee, Beast Boy, and Kid Flash sat passing candy between them and talking. Not wanting to make a fuss, she hovered over to the kitchen without saying anything and grabbed a plate. She grabbed a few pieces of leftover pizza and put them on the plate, while letting Silkie snack on a piece of crust. Before she could escape without being noticed, Kid Flash called out to her.

"Star! There's the hottest girl in Jump, wanna join us? We're gonna watch a movie," Kid Flash said.

"Oh, um, perhaps later friends, I am not in a pleasant mood," Starfire said.

"All the more reason to stay and watch, c'mon over, Star," Cyborg chimed in.

"Yeah, I got an awesome sci-fi movie from the video store, it's called _The Droid War_ , humans fight off this robot army that has taken over London, there's action and some kinda love story, everything you could want!" Beast Boy explained.

"I suppose I could stay and watch the movie," Starfire said.

The movie didn't do much to distract Starfire from the argument, still playing out in her mind. She wanted to run back to her room after the opening credits finished, but Kid Flash just gave her this look, and put his arm behind her along the back of the couch. It was a friendly smile, and she returned it, but why it worked to keep her there wasn't something she understood. She could go where she wanted to, yes? So why did she feel compelled to stay? The movie wasn't interesting to her, it was another of Beast Boy's braindead space action movies. Cyborg and Bumblebee would even talk over some of the dialog and everyone could still follow the plot.

After an hour, they paused to refill popcorn and drinks in the kitchen. Better than the movies, you didn't have to worry about missing anything, she thought, but there wasn't a lot to miss with this movie. Maybe she could slip away during this intermission, they wouldn't mind. She started to stand up with Silkie when Kid Flash presented her with a full popcorn bowl and her favorite soda.

"Where do you think you're going? Gonna make me eat all this myself?" Kid Flash asked with a playful smile.

"I am not in the best of moods, I should not be 'binging' on the popcorn, it would be better if I went to my room and-," Starfire said.

"Just relax Star, how often do we all get to hang together like this?" he asked.

"Not all of us are here, though," she replied, thinking of Robin.

"It's their loss and its more fun with you here," he said, "I'll go and drag them here if it means you'll relax."

"No, that's alright," she laughed, "I suppose I'll watch the rest of the movie."

"Cool! Then when it's done, you can tell me what's making the hottest girl in the city wanna run to her room," Kid Flash said.

"We shall see," she giggled.

Resuming the movie, the group was relatively quiet, save for the sounds of popcorn being munched and soda slurped. Starfire slunk back against the couch cushions and got lost in the movie, finally shelving the trouble with Robin. It helped that Kid Flash and Beast Boy kept pointing silly bits of dialog in the movie and parodying them, getting her and the others to laugh. Toward the end of the movie, Cyborg and Bumblebee checked out, saying goodnight before they went to bed.

"Party poopers," Beast Boy said with a laugh.

"We'll keep it going," Kid Flash said, "right Star?"

"Yes, we shall!" Starfire exclaimed.

"That'll wake 'em back up," Beast Boy chuckled.

"Oh, sorry," Starfire said in a softer voice.

"It's all good," Kid Flash said.

Settling back against the couch, they continued watching the movie. Overall, the plot hadn't been great, but typical for the series. The acting had been hit and miss, but it wasn't that disappointing, Starfire knew what she had gotten herself into when the Beast Boy picked the movie.

She fed Silkie some popcorn and glanced out the large windows of the tower, the lights from the city illuminated the night, and the moon was reflected perfectly in the water below the tower. She briefly wondered what tomorrow would be like before that thought was banished by Kid Flash, who put his arm out behind her on the back of the couch again.

"Hope this means there's another sequel," Beast Boy murmured as the movie's finale played out on screen.

The war had begun, and the dark heroine finally had her hero at her side, after he had left another woman.

When the film drew to a close, Beast Boy left for his room with a massive yawn. Starfire and Kid Flash stayed to clean up, and talk. Starfire explained the issues she and Robin had been having and Kid Flash listened.

"Guess he's not ready, or he thinks you're not ready. It's weird for him since he's been an 'Earth guide" for you," Kid Flash said.

"This is how relationships work, yes? The next level comes, correct?" Starfire asked.

"Not always, Star. I think he's crazy not to, but it's a decision that you have to make together, and he doesn't want to I guess," Kid Flash replied.

"What shall I do?" Starfire asked.

"Relax. Let him figure out his own stuff and do your own thing. Who knows, maybe you'll find a cool guy to chill with in the meantime," Kid Flash said with a wink.

"Perhaps, "Starfire giggled, "I am tired though, I should go to bed."

"Yeah, I am too. Wanna chat again tomorrow?" Kid Flash asked.

"Of course! And thank you...for listening."

"Anytime Star, sweet dreams!" Kid Flash said as he got up.

"Good night," Starfire said.

Grabbing Silkie, Starfire walked to the living room doors with Kid Flash. He turned off the lights and they both left the room. They went their separate ways, Kid Flash waved to Starfire, and she let Silkie wave back for her. Starfire walked to her room, trying to decide how she should best handle things with Robin the next day. Maybe she should just let him be for a while, it's not like she had gotten anywhere by confronting him as much as she had. Besides, she could hang out with the others, especially since Kid Flash and Bumblebee were visiting for another couple of weeks. Should be fun too, she thought as she walked into her room and put Silkie down. She got ready for bed and settled under the covers, anticipating the next day.


	3. Chapter 3

~RavensMind~

 **Chapter 3: Dancing on Glass**

Dinner had been perfect, and it wasn't just the food that made it so. Lost in their own conversations and drinks, Robin and Raven had been out for hours. They had yet to leave their booth, but were on the cusp of heading downstairs, if they could make it. Robin had a few hard drinks and they were working on his mind. Raven had a few too and it was showing, as her emotions were present in her face and voice. She was animated, more than he had seen her in a while. That dance sounded like fun to him, but he'd have to be careful - the last thing he wanted was to give her the wrong idea. Time to try this, he thought as he slowly stood.

"Still wanna dance with me?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, I do," Raven replied, "Can we dance though? I don't know about you, but I'm feeling a little off."

"Sure, we can. I'm feeling it too but wasn't that the point?" he asked.

"True. Want, um, should I lead the way?" she asked.

"I think we can make it," he chuckled.

"If you say so," she said as she stood up.

They left their booth and headed for a set of stairs that connected their balcony to the lower level by the dance floor. A bouncer let them pass when Robin flashed the king of club's card. Descending the stairs, they approached the packed dance floor. There were couples older than them, some around the same age, and singles dancing under flashing multi-colored lights. Colors flashed to the change in tempo and rhythm of the track and not everyone could keep the beat. Seems they weren't the only ones drinking and dancing.

Robin froze when he felt Raven take his hand in hers. He cleared his throat and smiled to her in as friendly a way as he could, ignoring the heat in his face and chest. She returned his smile and tilted her head toward the DJ.

"Want to pick a song or just go with what's playing?" Raven asked.

"I don't know what song I'd pick for you," Robin replied.

"Okay, I guess what's playing will work, because I don't know either," she said.

"Feeling okay?" he asked.

"Mhmm, why?"

"I uh, think you're blushing."

"Probably the alcohol."

"Right."

Raven took a deep breath as heat flared in her chest. Alcohol had done nothing to dull her empathic abilities and she could sense Robin's added caution toward her. She had felt the shift in him when she had taken his hand. He might not be able to do this, she thought. He and Starfire weren't in a good place, and for him to do this without her seemed like a step away from her. It's just for one night, she told herself, one dance for fun.

"Ready?" she asked.

"When you are," he said.

"Loosen up a little, can't move if you're going to be so stiff," she chuckled.

"Did _you_ just tell me to loosen up? Who are you and where's Raven?" he laughed.

"Shut up, are you going to lead or not?"

"I will, c'mon."

He brought her to the edge of the crowded dance floor and faced her. She smiled and watched him as he put his arm around her and brought their clasped hands to one side.

"A formal dance first?" she asked.

"Yeah, that a problem?" he asked.

"Not at all, just didn't think you'd pick that right away."

"Are you gonna analyze me or dance with me?"

"I can do both."

"Ha ha, so could I."

The pair swayed and stepped and twirled together as the music played on. Several in the crowd recognized them and let them have more room on the floor. At one point, Robin dipped down with Raven and pulled her back up, only to almost lose balance and fall back, but she kept him from slipping.

Her thoughts for the first song were to watch him, follow him, and not entertain that this was only going to happen once. They morphed as his hands moved her through their dance. She became more acutely aware of where he was touching, how close his face would get to hers before he would pull away. It was making it hard to focus on anything else, until she started feeling hot. The night was a fuel injected dream, and she didn't want it to stop.

Robin focused on movements, keeping Raven in time with him, and little else. He punted every other thought that dared to enter his mind. He wasn't going to make a mistake. Not any kind of mistake. He twirled her around and dipped her to the last note and they paused before the next song. her hand was still in his, and he had to get away - just for a minute.

Another song started though, and he was trapped with her on the dance floor. Maybe if he just kept his hands away, that would stop certain ideas from invading his mind. The song was faster paced and more suited to the mass of dancers. Bathed in pinks and purples and blues, the crowd held the groove of the music. People had gradually boxed the pair in, which made it hard to move without touching her. Her eyes hadn't drifted from his much, the blue violet orbs were boring through his mask. Did they always have that little glint, or was the light playing tricks on him? Raven twirled around with her back to him as she continued to dance.

 _Breathe. Stay in the moment_ , Robin thought. His heart thudded against his chest. He wondered just how much she could sense he was feeling as she closed the tiny gap between them a moment later. Her scent flooded his nose when she gently shook her hair as she moved to the beat. His hand collided with hers and he impulsively clasped it in his. She stiffened at first, freezing on the spot and she took a breath that was audible to him through the music. He froze as well, waiting to see what she would do. Her head slowly turned to one side, her eye regarding him with surprise. He didn't have to wonder if she knew what he was feeling, her expression said it all.

The other dancers and music fell away the moment Robin had grasped Raven's hand, the flood of emotions that poured from him invaded her already altered mind. Thick desire mixed with apprehension swirled around his thoughts. Raven had stopped to analyze his emotions and compared them to her own. Dancing with him was the most innocent thing she wanted to do at that moment, her face flushed with red and she bit her lip, squeezing his hand and drawing ever closer to him. It took every ounce of her control to continue dancing, and not pull him away to the nearest dark corner of the place. The urge to taste his lips filled her thoughts. A cheer from the crowd brought her back to the moment. She moved their clasped hands, pulling his arm around her waist, and she leaned her head back against his shoulder.

Eagerly following her lead, Robin wrapped his other arm around Raven and they swayed to the beat. In truth, they weren't keeping the beat, or the tune in the slightest. It was enough to move as one. He kept feeling her ass brush against his groin through her cloak, distracting him from the song even further. Any longer on the dance floor like that and he'd lose the last of his control. The song had to end soon. Had he ever felt this tense around her? She felt him stiffen, but he didn't let her go.

The song ended a few moments later, and he excused himself to get drinks for both of them and went to the bar across the room. Sitting at the stool, he flashed the card again and ordered another jack and coke for him, and another martini for her. He took a few deep breaths and flung the image of her mouth inches from his during that dance out of his mind. She's my friend, Starfire is my girlfriend, he reminded his tipsy self.

He didn't want to end on this, but if things got out of hand, he may have to call it a night for them both. The bartender passed him the drinks and he took them back to a small table near the dance floor where Raven sat waiting. He sat and passed her the martini before taking a big gulp from his glass. She eyed him curiously and then took a sip of her drink as well. The room started to spin a little to him, but he hardly noticed.

"Something bothering you?" Raven asked.

"It's nothing," Robin said.

"You know it's pointless to lie to me. I can sense when you do," she said.

"Are you having a good time?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you having a good time with me?" he asked.

"It's been amazing, I'm not sure why we don't do this more together. Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm having a lot of fun too, more than I should."

"Is it...the drinking, or...the dancing?"

"It's you."

"What?"

"Tonight, I - I don't know if it's you or if it's because of Star, but I just- I have to do something-or I'll regret it."

"Do what?"

"I don't know if you'll like it."

"Try me."

Robin set his drink down, leaned over the table, and pressed his lips to hers. Her eyes went wide, and she froze as she processed what he had done. His lips were soft and fervently kissing hers, and he kept on, coaxing until she returned the kiss. She slowly let go of her glass and ran her hand through his gelled hair. The music played in the background as the lights overhead turned blue, then red, then purple, and finally settling on a deep pink. The music was low, and the crowd was still dancing. Nothing took them from their moment until he pulled away and sat back in his chair.

She looked at him before she took a long sip of her drink and saw the room slowly spinning behind him, but he was in crystal clear focus.

"I think we should go," Raven said.

"I-I'm so sorry, I had to - I felt like-," Robin started.

"No, I loved it...we should go home and... keep doing it," Raven said slowly, trying to speak clearly.

"Oh, okay, I uh, I'll call Terra," Robin said.

Raven leaned against the back of her chair and listened as Robin got up with his communicator and told Terra to come and pick them up. She assessed herself and decided she was drunk. Everything seemed like a decent idea. She couldn't wait to get him back to the tower. An image of Starfire flickered briefly in her mind and she felt awful. What had they done? This couldn't happen. The thought lasted until Robin ended the call and swept her out of her chair and their lips met again.

"Let's get outsside, sshhe'll be heere ssooon," Robin slurred slightly.

The pair got up and walked to the door, leaning on each other as they moved.

Reaching the exit, Robin looked to Raven and frowned as he tried to process what they were doing. Starfire would kill him. She didn't deserve to be treated like this, even if they had been having problems and he had been drifting from her. Stopping would ruin the night, and it was the best one he'd had in a long time, he assumed the same was true for Raven too. His drunk mind determined that was good enough. Well, he also loved the taste of her, and couldn't pull himself from her.

RrrrrrrRRrrr

When Robin had called, Terra had been in the T-car, on the way back to the tower from the theater. Good timing on his end, or she would have to find something to do at home before going out again to get them. He had slurred his words during their call, so she didn't have to wonder if he was drunk or not, just _how_ drunk. She guessed Raven was probably as drunk, maybe a little soberer, knowing her, though. At least they probably had a good time, she thought. She was still mentally punching Beast Boy. A night out was just what she had needed and smiled as she turned the T-car down the street toward the club.

On approach, she saw Robin and Raven standing next to the curb just outside. They were holding onto each other and wobbling a bit, a sign that walking may not be the easiest thing for them at that moment. She pulled up to the curb and they got in the back - together. Robin had been in the passenger seat for the drive there, so it was odd for him to be joining Raven. He had his arm around her even after they were sitting inside, and the door had been shut.

"Looks like you had fun," Terra said playfully.

"A little...more than we... planned, I think," Raven said slowly.

"Wass reeally niccee," Robin slurred.

"Awesome," Terra laughed, "I'll just take us home, okay? You guys chill."

"Thanks Terra," Raven said.

"No sweat," Terra said as she started pulling away from the curb.

Even drunk, Raven was still doing her best to seem in control, Terra noticed. Robin was trying to be setting the example he tried to give as leader, but his slurred speech wouldn't be masking anything. Terra hadn't ever been drunk, so it was a little insightful to see how her friends were still themselves for the most part. Nothing crazy, like throwing massive tantrums, or crying, or any over-the-top behavior that movies and tv shows pushed. Her friends were a little impaired, but they were still themselves.

Terra drove on through the city, making her way toward the tower. The streets were quiet as it was well after midnight and mostly everyone was asleep. She wondered if Beast Boy was still up, she hoped she wouldn't run into him when she got back to the tower. It was too late for any argument. Her attention returned to the road, not interested in exploring the feud with Beast Boy again that night. She glanced in the rear-view mirror and did a double take. Robin and Raven were sitting with their arms around each other and their foreheads touching. Raven's eyelids were low, and a faint grin played on her lips. Robin had a playful smirk on his face and was tracing circles on Raven's shoulder with his thumb. Terra stayed quiet, feeling awkward and shocked.

Terra wondered what happened between the pair at the club, aside from getting drunk. Very little could tear Robin from Starfire, maybe this was just the alcohol. She had to force herself to look at the road and bite back "what-the-fuck?" when she saw Robin lean in and kiss Raven. She was even more surprised when she looked back and saw Raven returning his kiss. _Is this happening, seriously?_ Terra thought. What was she supposed to do? This would devastate Starfire, would cause so much trouble for the team. Yet the pair looked obscenely happy to Terra.

As some of the shock subsided, Terra tried to think of what to say. Something to stop them? Scold them? Like it would do much good, Robin's hands were all over Raven, and she was holding him close.

"So, how was dinner?" she asked, pretending that she hadn't seen anything.

"Amazing," Raven said.

"Yeah, reeally greaat," Robin said.

"Food was that good, huh?" Terra asked.

"I guess so...wasn't really the...highlight," Raven said.

"What was the highlight?" Terra asked.

 _Probably looking at it,_ Terra thought as she took another glance in the rear-view mirror.

"Dancing," Robin answered with a smirk.

"Would've been...even better...it we'd been...sober," Raven added.

"Will bee better when we get hooomme," Robin slurred.

"My room...or your's?" Raven asked.

"Your's, allll yoouuu, all _of_ youu," Robin slurred with a laugh.

"Mhmm," Raven giggled, "anything... you want."

"What uh, what else did you do?" Terra asked.

"We talked...and drank...and kissed," Raven replied.

"And what's Star gonna say when she hears about the last one?" Terra asked.

"Furriousss, I knoow. Itt wass gonnna end, Terrra. I'm sssorrryy," Robin slurred sadly.

"I am too...emotions got a hold of me...alcohol as well," Raven said, "but...my emotions are more than okay...with this. I want...to make him happy."

"Ssshhee's right, I care aboouut her too," Robin said.

"Convince me when you're sober, guys. 'Cause I can't buy how you're saying this, if you could hear how drunk you sound," Terra said as she spun the wheel, causing Robin and Raven to slide into the door.

Making the final approach to Titans Tower, Terra considered her options. She could quietly park in the garage and help the pair through the tower quietly, hiding them, or she could let them manage on their own and go on her way, or she could bring them to Starfire and tell her everything. Another look in the rear view was what it took to help her decide. If she brought the pair to Starfire in their current state, any conversation would be next to impossible, and would make all of them feel worse about what was happening.

Whether Terra helped or not, what happened up until then was out of her control, and she wasn't about to make decisions for her friends based on her own ideas. This was Robin and Raven's mess, and they would be responsible for dealing with any fallout. _Hope Star doesn't actually go nuclear_ , Terra thought. She drove into the garage and killed the ignition, then hopped out and helped Robin and Raven out of the backseat. With her left arm around Robin's neck, and her right around Raven's, Terra walked them silently out of the garage and into the elevator. She decided it was better to keep them separated on either of side of her, in case they met anyone in the hall when the doors opened.

Terra managed to get the drunk pair from the elevator to the first of their rooms. Raven's. She reminded herself that her friends had made their mistake, and nothing was liable to change what had already begun. Even in the relative dark, Terra could see the red in their faces as she let them hold each other again while she opened the sliding door to Raven's room and turned on the light just inside. She moved to lead Raven from Robin's grasp, but he refused to let go of her.

"Thanks Terra…for everything, but...I don't think you…need to take him to his room," Raven slowly drawled.

"Oh, uh, are you sure?" Terra asked, hoping one of them would reconsider.

"We're gooooood, thanksss Terra," Robin slurred.

"Okay," Terra hesitated, "good night, I guess. Tomorrow won't be any better."

"Right, we'll… deal with it," Raven drawled, "we need this…my emotions will…drive me insane… if I don't do it."

"I'll drivvve her crazzzy either waayy," Robin slurred with a smirk.

To Terra's surprise, Raven giggled loudly and wrapped her arms around Robin. He dropped a kiss on Raven's neck and squeezed her as he walked her into her room toward the bed. Terra watched them go in slight disbelief with mixed feelings.

"I'll check on you guys in the morning, alright?" Terra called after them.

She shut the door behind them and started for her room.

On one hand, Terra felt awful for what news of the pair would do to Starfire, but seeing them together, even drunk, made her happy for both of them. Robin and Starfire had been fighting a lot lately, that hadn't been a secret to anyone, but she didn't think it was bad enough for him to be looking for anyone else. Maybe it had been. It made her wonder if her relationship with Beast Boy was in trouble too and she just wasn't aware of it yet.

Probably didn't help that she had kept a few things about her time in high school from him, namely that she had dated another guy and then a girl. Being a new person meant she could try new things, so she did, and hadn't told any of her old friends about all of her new experiences. Her problems seemed small in the face of what trouble tomorrow was going to bring for the team, or at least Starfire.

Terra entered her room and quickly stripped, flopping onto her bed in a haze. She thought she could help in some way tomorrow, maybe checking in with Raven and Robin, to make sure they come clean to Starfire, or she would.

RRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRrrrrrrrr

Once the door to her room had closed behind Terra, Raven was all over Robin. Their lips crashed together over and over, and her hands slid slowly down his body, fumbling to get his belt off. He was trying to get her cloak off with one hand, cupping the soft weight of her ass with the other.

His belt landed on the floor as her lips parted and they were kissing open-mouthed, hungrily, burning as they moved against each other. Her cloak came off and fluttered to the floor while his hands searched her back for the zipper of her dark leotard.

They were lucky enough to make it to the bed. She had taken off her belt of gems and removed his cape by the time he had gotten her leotard unzipped and they fell onto the covers. Tearing her lips from his, she undressed fully and pulled his gloves off his hands. His eyes wandered over her, taking in the sight of her, his mouth hanging open. She looked back at him and bit her lip, then instantly frowned, and in a single motion, reached up and peeled his mask away, tossing it aside.

Bright blue eyes stared back at her in drunken disbelief. Her eyes glazed over, and she smiled back at him, before nearly ripping his shirt off him, and yanking his tights down to his ankles. Electricity shot through her veins as his fingers brushed over the tips of her nipples and his hands explored her body.

Her head found the pillow as he moved his hands between her thighs. She gasped and bit her lip when she felt the tip of his hard arousal against her slick slit. Shudders overtook her, and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing up her neck as he eased in and took her. She felt stretched and hot and it took every ounce of her control to keep her powers in check.

"You okay?" Robin whispered, "loovve how you feeeel…I can stop ifff youuu want."

"Feels good…you're big, but…I'll hurt you if you stop," Raven drawled.

Slow, possessive strokes shook her, pleasure racking her body with each reeling thrust of his. They entwined, holding each other on their sides, kissing furiously, as she met his deeper strokes. He bit and licked up and down her neck and fed her empowered lust with each motion. At a groan of his, she felt a pang of lucid, sober shame, and let it roll with the waves of pleasure. Rapid thrusts made her moan louder and more girlish than she thought she could.

He was lost in the tightness of her, the smell of her, the taste of her, even as sweat filmed their bodies, he kept tasting her. His lips sought her neck, her ear, her breast, and her mouth as they moved against each other. Her moans stole any other drive, he had to hear more. Something in the curve of her mouth reminded him of Starfire's and he slowed as her image invaded his lust drenched, altered mind. Raven burned that image away in a hot, dreamy, primal kiss that left several teeth marks on his lower lip.

The room fell away and her senses blazed as her breath left her faster than ever, and her body shook alongside him when she heard him groan and his arousal throbbed within her in a final thrust. They lay in a tangled mess, panting and sweating. She stared into his eyes as he looked drowsily back into hers. She pulled him into a deep kiss that he eagerly returned before he managed to get them both under her covers and sheets on her pillows, she turned off the light with her powers, and sleep overtook them.


	4. Chapter 4

~RavensMind~

 **An Escapist Date**

 **Chapter 4: Truth and Consequences**

Light streamed in through the window across Robin's face and woke him. He felt queasy and his head was throbbing in pain. It was all he could do to just collect his thoughts. Opening his eyes was a last resort, in his opinion, he didn't mind if he never had to open them again. He felt awful. He groaned and fluffed the pillow under his head. But it didn't feel like his pillow, and he had no window in his room where the sun could hit his face. He listened and heard breathing that wasn't his own. Finally, he allowed himself to open his eyes and the events of last night hit him in the chest like a train when his eyes adjusted.

Raven lay sleeping next to him, her hair was messy, her pale, bare shoulders and arms glowing in the sunlight. Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing steadily, still sound asleep. He held his throbbing head as he slowly sat up and looked around. Their clothes were laying at the end of Raven's bed, and on her floor, the rest of her room looked as it always had, save for the extra books and new bookshelf she had added. It took him another beat before he realized his mask wasn't on his face.

His eyes widened in panic before he remembered that it was Raven that had seen his eyes, she already knew more than any of the others, their bond was still strong, and she had glimpsed memories of his past. She did her best to stay out of his mind since, but every now and then, he could tell she had peeked. She had only been looking out for him when he was stressed and obsessed over a few cases they had been working.

He heard her groan in a similar way that he had and met her eyes a few moments later when they gradually slid open. Her eyes grew big and she opened her mouth to say something but shut it and bit her lip instead. He looked down at her in a mix of shame and bliss, which wasn't a combination of emotions he had ever felt.

She studied him for a good, long minute. Her own emotions had been screaming at her, and his were hardly quiet. His physical appearance hadn't told her more than her memory of the previous night had. She felt the same terrible shame and elation that he was experiencing and had no doubt that a very difficult, heart wrenching day was awaiting them both. His eyes looked so much lighter and full of energy than they had last night, she had to tear her gaze away from them. Eventually, she did finally find some words through the headache and nausea that were warring over her awareness.

"I didn't mean-well, I shouldn't have...I...I'm sorry, this is all my fault," Raven began awkwardly, putting her hands over her face..

"Your fault? No, it's mine...I shouldn't have agreed to that dance, and I shouldn't have kissed you...knowing how your emotions respond," Robin replied, as he dared to pull her hands away from her face.

"You don't understand, I wasn't only drunk... one of my emotions had control...Passion," she confessed, shaking her head, "I'm sure that through her, I influenced you more than you influenced me."

He looked at her as he considered her words, trying to find a way to take the blame from her, but if her emotions had altered his own, there was little he could say. They had a rule between them since their bond had formed, that she wouldn't abuse it, and had done so in their drunken state. Even so, they both had to own up to their subsequent actions. The hangover was nothing in the face of the beast of his own regret and anger at himself. His anger began to turn slightly to Raven.

"Why didn't you stop me? You knew how bad things were with me and Starfire when I asked if you'd come with," Robin asked angrily.

"I didn't think it would have led to this...I never knew how much part of me wanted you, and I didn't know until last night that you...were holding back the same desires and feelings that I must have been," Raven explained slowly.

"I wasn't-," he started.

"You were. My emotions didn't manipulate you, they influenced and met yours. They wouldn't have thought it was possible if there wasn't something in the other person to draw from," she explained, then sighed, "of course I can see it now...after it all."

"Okay...so what do we do now? We'll tell Star and Star is going to kill us, and I wouldn't blame her if she did. I don't think there's a way to say how sorry I am to her and get her to believe me."

"We'll face whatever is coming to us…I'll explain as best I can, but I don't expect it will change much. She has every right to the truth…I think you should tell her what you've been telling me for weeks, it's pretty clear now."

"Maybe you're right…this happened, so, it's just not working out with her anymore. I don't want it to end like this."

"Don't leave anything out, tell her everything."

"What about you?"

"I'll explain as best I can, like I said."

"No. I mean…what do you want? After last night, there's…we started something, didn't we?"

She blinked and bit her lip as she tried to think, tried to get some idea as to what she could do, what was right, what was the best thing to do in this situation? She couldn't lie to him, but she didn't know what she could say that wouldn't betray Starfire any further. Her own desires didn't seem important. She could hardly deny their existence though.

"I just can't talk about that now, it…wouldn't be right," she said, turning away from him onto her side, looking at the wall.

"I…don't want to hurt you, too," he said as he laid a hand lightly on her shoulder.

"I'd deserve it, since this is my fault."

"It's our fault. The others will blame both of us."

"The…others," she said slowly as something crept into her awareness.

"What? What is it?' he asked.

It came to her slowly, as the events of last night replayed in her mind. She tapped her fingers on her pillow as the went through each small act. The image of her kissing Robin in the backseat flooded her vision and she closed her eyes as she realized.

"Terra," she replied softly.

He didn't understand what she meant, looking down on her as he wracked his brain for what she might be referring to from last night.

"She saw us kissing, walked us up here, she knows about all of this," she said slowly as she turned back to face him.

"Shit...Do you think she told Starfire already?" he asked.

"I would doubt it, but she'll be checking in on us soon," she replied, "she said she would."

"I guess we should shower and get dressed then," he suggested.

"Yeah. Do you mind if I go first?"

"Go ahead."

With some effort, Raven slipped out from beneath the covers and stood, stretching as she did so, with her bare back to Robin. His plan of averting his eyes fell through when something on her lower back caught his eye. An inky black raven with outstretched wings flying upward was tattooed in delicate fashion across her lower back. He knew it was a mistake to look, but he had already done worse.

"Awesome uh, tattoo…When did you get that?" he asked.

She stopped in mid-stretch with her arms raised over her head, pointing to the ceiling. Her face flushed, and she dared not turn around, determined not to show him anything else. Emotions swirled in her mind and fought to take form.

"Thanks. I got it after we defeated my father. Someone helped me believe in myself…I wanted something special to remind me of what I am," she replied.

"Maybe I should get one," he said.

"Maybe."

Raven said nothing else as she quickly walked to her bathroom and disappeared inside it, leaving him staring after her as she slid the door shut behind her. He heard her turn on the shower and he looked down at himself. He had little to do while he waited. He needed a distraction, something that would stop him from continuing to scream at himself internally.

Climbing out of the bed, he stretched as she had and crossed to one of her bookshelves. A small book of short stories stuck out alongside the various tomes and tales and he picked it out on a whim. He returned to the bed and sat down, as he flipped it open. A tiny scrap of paper fell into his lap. He picked it up and recognized Raven's handwriting: 'Midnight House Café, Jump City open mic poetry, tea, and coffee – for friends.'

They had never gone there with her, as he couldn't remember ever visiting the place, but she must have gone at least once. She kept to herself quite a lot, so it was hard to gauge what she often did and what places she frequented when alone. The same thing that inspired the urge to kiss her motivated him enough to save the scrap of paper in his utility belt before he sat back on the bed and tried to read as his thoughts swam.

Various scenes played out in his mind as he pictured telling Starfire what had happened, in some, she was crying, in others, she was yelling, more had her doing both, and he was usually sitting alone with her, though Raven sat next to him in some. He felt the worst about the scenes where she cried, he deserved the yelling, was hoping for it, then he could at least get some of what he deserved.

Whatever happened, it was going to affect the team as much as it affected friendships, or relationships. Any criminal would be at an advantage if they weren't cooperating fully in the field. He also knew that the others would be supporting Starfire and likely wouldn't want to be around he or Raven for a while. He flipped a few pages in the book and tried to find a different story that might get his attention. He found one and managed to focus on reading it. As he finished the story some time later, the bathroom door opened, and Raven emerged, wrapped in a towel. Her eyes found his and she swiftly turned away when they lingered on him longer than she had intended.

"Your turn," Raven said.

He put the book down, grabbed his mask and walked over to her, wishing he had something clean he could have put on as he did so stark naked.

"I'm sorry," Robin said.

"You don't have to say that, not to me, anyway," she stated, still not looking at him.

"Hey, we'll all get through this, ok? You can talk to me, if they don't want us around," he said.

"Sure. That'll go over well too," she remarked dryly.

"I know, it will look bad, but it will look worse if we're avoiding each other too."

"Once we tell her, we'll see."

"Look, I know your emotions are probably going crazy right now, and I know it gets bad when you don't show them when you should…so, don't hide all of them."

"You're not wrong, but I'll choose when that happens, and it's not right now."

"Okay. I'll go and shower."

Raven waited until she heard the bathroom door slide shut behind him before she turned back and went to her closet. She hadn't trusted herself as she had felt an overwhelming urge to kiss him when he was close. Hearing him had been bad enough, if she saw him, it might push her over the edge. She pulled clean clothes from her closet and put them on, retrieving her belt from the floor and tying it on as well. Once dressed, she began meditating, hovering in the air and chanting her familiar mantra, "Azarath metrion zinthos."

Calming her emotions was her first priority, the second was to figure out how to approach the rest of the day. Terra would show up soon, Raven and Robin would tell Starfire about last night and apologize together, she would react, then the team would know, and…then what? Most of what happened later depended on what Starfire would do once she had been told. Worst case, Raven could spend the rest of the day either in her room or out in the city, as she knew nobody would want her around. Not after what she had done.

She wasn't sure that she was ready for the onslaught of emotions that she would get when she was next to Robin and Starfire having the conversation she was trying to plan. As if she could control it, Starfire would decide how it went. She hoped Terra hadn't said anything yet, they needed to be sure that Starfire heard it directly, it would be better that way. The others didn't need to be talking about it yet either. Her meditation soothed her mind and she slowly returned to her feet. She picked up the clothes and effects that were still laying across the bed and floor and arranged them in piles at the end of her bed.

Once she set Robin's belt with the rest of his things, she picked up the book he had been reading and wondered idly what had made him pick that one, of all the books on her shelves. _Random choice, maybe_ , she thought. A knock at her door made her freeze. _Time for round one,_ she thought.

"Rae, is it cool if I come in? Or are you…busy?" Terra asked from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, come in," Raven replied.

When the door slid open, Terra entered and quickly shut the door behind her before she looked around, her expression changed as she surveyed the room, and Raven didn't need to guess what she was thinking. Terra's gaze turned to Raven, and she crossed her arms.

"You don't look so good," Terra observed.

"Hangover…and my emotions aren't exactly calm," Raven said.

"And where's Rob?" Terra asked.

"In the shower," Raven replied, indicating the door to her bathroom.

"Not gonna join him?"

"No…and I showered first. I know how this looks…it's not his fault, its mine. My emotions took over and messed with his and we had too much to drink and well, I think you know the rest."

"Yeah, I do. But wait, you went out for drinks at some fancy place alone together, and left making out…guess it was a date, huh?"

"It wasn't-or, I didn't mean it to turn into that, neither of us did. You saw how drunk we were."

"Right, say I believe you, what are you gonna do?"

"We're going to tell Star everything and try to make sense of this."

"Is he gonna break up with her?"

"Maybe. That's a question for him."

"Shit…this is so awful, she's gonna go crazy, so are the rest of us!"

"I know. I'm sorry…and I'm sorry we dragged you into this too. Didn't mean to-well, didn't mean for any of it, but you didn't need to see… things happen."

Raven was referring to making out with Robin and the reminder made Terra step awkwardly to one side. They stood quietly for a few moments before Raven went and sat on her bed, holding her head as her hangover flared. Terra was starting toward the bed when Robin emerged from the bathroom with his mask on and a towel wrapped around his waist. He managed a tired, awkward smile that quickly faded and stepped closer, looking from her to Raven.

"So, is she up to speed?" Robin asked.

"Essentially," Raven replied.

"Okay. If Rae didn't already say it…I feel terrible, still trying to figure all this out," he said to Terra.

"Yeah, she did…so, what's gonna happen with you and Star?" Terra asked.

"If she doesn't end it after I tell her about this, then I will. We've been having problems, this happening… it's not gonna work out…no matter what we say," he explained.

"And what about you two?" she asked, looking between Robin and Raven.

Robin looked at Raven, who was still refusing to glance in his direction, choosing instead to look at her dresser, as if considering what color she might paint it. He had heard her answer already and decided what to tell Terra when he turned back to her.

"We're going to keep seeing each other," Robin said.

The look on Terra's face was nothing compared to the look Raven sported as she snapped her gaze to him. He hoped she would sense what he was thinking and go along with it, if the team thought that they weren't sure about each other after all this, they would be even angrier. The justification would be weaker than it already was and it would be harder to pull the team together if they knew neither he or Raven were ready for this.

"Maybe you guys should wait…think about it more," Terra suggested.

"Yeah, we will, it's just not ending after one night," Robin said.

"Is this even gonna fly with your emotions?" Terra asked Raven.

"I'm…not sure, but we'll see," Raven replied as she looked at Robin.

"So, you're cool with this?" Terra asked.

"I'm not 'cool' with it. We can't take it back, neither of us can ignore this, and we have to deal with everything that comes out of it. Speaking of, we should probably finish getting ready," Raven replied, speaking more to Robin.

"Oh, yeah," Robin said, looking down at himself.

Raven stood and passed Robin his belt and dirty clothes, averting her eyes as she did so. Terra did the same when Robin's towel slid slightly, which he quickly corrected.

"Thanks," he said to Raven," join me on the roof in a few minutes? I'll bring Star with me."

"Sure," she replied.

He nodded to her and left the room with his things under his arm. Raven moved toward the door as it slid shut behind him, half wanting to follow, the other half making sure he was gone. Her conflicting emotions briefly touched the surface of her awareness and she recognized the fear in the face of her passion. What if the situation was reversed, and she had been the one he hurt? Could he do to her what he had done to Star, even without the emotional influence being a factor? The other thing they had yet to even talk about loomed in her mind, what if she was pregnant?

Terra watched her quietly, unsure of what to say. Her own concerns seemed tiny in the face of the bomb that was about to be dropped on the team. Starfire would explode over this, she knew it, Robin knew it, and Raven did too.

"I wanted to kiss him…before he left," Raven blurted, "what's wrong with me?"

"You like him, nothing's wrong with you, it's just awful how you both found out," Terra said.

"Do you think less of me because of this?" Raven asked.

"Maybe a little," Tera replied.

"Maybe?"

"Okay! I'm angry at both of you and I can't believe you'd do this!"

"Better. We both deserve it."

"Not forever! We can get over this."

"I doubt Star will."

"She might, if she meets someone else."

"I didn't want to take him from her, you have to believe me."

"Yeah, I do…it's still terrible."

"I know…I should get going. Do me a favor? Don't talk about this until after we've told Star."

"You got it."

RrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrr

Laughing as she grabbed a glass of milk, Starfire floated over and sat down next to Kid Flash at the counter. She smiled as he passed her some toast and she took a few bites. It was slathered in mustard as she had requested, and it tasted more delicious than she remembered. Kid Flash had joined her a few minutes ago for breakfast, as the others in the living room had already eaten. Cyborg and Bumblebee were playing GameStation together with Beast Boy watching, waiting to play the winner. She hadn't seen Robin, Terra, or Raven at all yet, but she guessed they had just slept in that morning.

It was great to have the others here, it changed things up and meant that she could go more places with more people and learn more about her other friends who weren't around as often. Today, she and Bumblebee were going to the mall and they were going to see if Terra and Raven would join them. Raven probably wouldn't, but she would ask all the same. She thought of asking Robin, but that might spark another argument. Maybe Kid Flash would go with them.

"Have you planned anything to do today?" Starfire asked.

"Not really. You got something in mind?" Kid Flash asked.

"I am going to the mall of shopping with Bumblebee, would you care to join us?" she asked.

"Sure! Need to get some stuff anyway, when're we going?" he asked.

"In the afternoon. Perhaps after lunch, we shall see who else wants to go," she replied.

"Cool, sounds good! Where's Rob? Seems like he's always the first one up," he observed.

"I do not know," she said, "I did not see him return to the living room last night."

"Could check on him for ya," he offered.

"No, it is…fine, I shall look for him shortly," she said.

They finished their breakfast and started cleaning up the dishes when Terra walked in and joined them behind the counter. She said good morning and started making eggs. She didn't look sad, but she didn't look happy either. How anyone could not be happy on such a fantastic day was odd to her. It was sunny, they had more friends around, and there was so much they could do.

Still, Terra retained her blank expression and ate her eggs while Starfire and Kid Flash cleaned up. It wasn't her day for dishes, but she felt like doing them. Cyborg was busy anyway, he could do more after they all had lunch or dinner. She started planning which stores she wanted to visit, which ones she had to check out, and wondered if there were any new ones to see. As she cleaned, Cyborg beat Bumblebee and Beast Boy took over to play Cyborg.

"Hey, Starfire…"

She turned around to find Robin, standing slightly off to one side of the counter, he looked like he hadn't slept well, or had been up all night.

"Morning, Rob, sleep okay? You look like shit," Kid Flash said.

"Yeah, what's up?" Terra asked.

"Later. Star, can we talk?" Robin asked.

"Of course," Star replied, making to sit at the counter near Terra.

"Somewhere else, c'mon," Robin said, stopping her and motioning for her to follow.

With a nod, Starfire followed Robin out of the living room, leaving Kid Flash and Terra staring after them. She thought they were just going a few feet out into the hall, but he took her all the way down several hallways to the roof access staircase in silence. He held the door for her as she walked out onto the roof. Raven was meditating, levitating in the center of their volleyball court. Robin led Starfire over to Raven and she slowly returned to the ground as they approached. Raven looked as bad as Robin did, but her demeanor was mostly the same as always, save fot the sad expression on her face.

"Hi Starfire," Raven began, "Robin and I have something we need to tell you…and it's definitely going to hurt. I didn't mean for it to happen, neither did he, and I… hope you'll forgive us in time, but I'll understand if you never do."

"What? What did you two do? Surely it is not so terrible?" Starfire inquired.

"Actually, it is. Hear us out first, then say whatever you want, but you need to know the whole story," Robin said.

"Okay, I shall listen," Starfire said.

Robin started off by telling Starfire how often he had been getting help from Raven for their relationship problems and how it had worked well, until recently. He told her how much time they had spent together and explained again the nature of their bond. Raven mentioned which emotions had used that bond to influence things. Starfire absorbed what they said at first, content to listen until they got into what she thought would be the worst part.

Pausing for a few moments, Robin then described what alcohol could do to people's minds, as she wasn't all that familiar with it yet. He got into the events of last night, starting with the invitation, how he didn't mean it as a date, and Raven said she didn't think it was a date either. Starfire's nostrils flared, and she felt her body heat rise as she guessed where the story was leading.

As Robin talked about what happened at the club, Raven chimed in less and less. From Terra dropping them off, to dinner, to drinking, to dancing, to the first kiss, to being picked up, and taken home and he paused again. Starfire remained quiet, practically smoldering as her eyes flashed green for an instant but returned to normal and refocused on Robin. Raven had moved from her place beside Robin to a place a referee might occupy around two combatants, in the middle, but not obscuring the view of one another.

He finally reached the end and told Starfire as his voice caught in his throat that he had slept with Raven and started to say how sorry he was when Starfire's eyes ignited in green and Raven put a dark barrier between the pair and the emerald beams from Starfire's eyes struck it. Starfire stopped in an instant and rounded on Raven.

"It's my fault, my emotions influenced his, if you're going to hit somebody, hit me," Raven said.

"I-I cannot believe either of you! You are my friends; how could you do this to me! 'Drunk' or not, 'emotions' or not, this is- you are both sanvakkororthobs!" Starfire shouted.

"I know… I'm really sorry, Star, we both are, we'd never do anything to intentionally hurt you, I'd never cheat on you, but it happened, and we want to make it up to you, somehow," Robin said.

"You have done enough!" Starfire yelled, "I cannot forgive you… and I shall no longer be your girlfriend."

Starfire turned and made to leave but stopped and turned to look at Raven, who wouldn't meet her gaze and focused on the ground between them.

"Never…I never would have thought _you_ could do such a thing," Starfire said to Raven before she stormed away and slammed the door to the roof behind her.

Anger and disbelief filled her, walking down the halls back to the living room, she had to get as far from them as she could. She didn't want to see either of them, but they were all she could think of, to her dismay. Betrayed by Raven, cheated on by Robin, there was nothing that she could come up with that might be worse, save for losing all her friends. At least the rest of them would be there for her. She needed them now more than ever.

What she had been told would sink in, and her anger would fade – replaced by crushing sadness. First, to tell the others, she knew they would be as mad as she was. She realized it as she was walking - Terra knew already, if she had driven them home while they were drunk and making out and hadn't said anything. Why? It wasn't right. This had been important to her.

Starfire burst into the living room and sought Terra. The game was still going as Beast Boy and Kid Flash raced each other, while Cyborg and Bumblebee watched. Terra was still sitting at the counter, drinking water and listening to music on her mp3 player with headphones. Not wasting a second, Starfire went over to the other side of the counter and looked down at Terra before taking the headphones off Terra's head. She jumped, then looked at Starfire's angry expression, and her face fell.

"Uh, hey Star. I guess you know. They um, wanted to tell you first, so I promised I wouldn't say anything…to anybody. I'm sorry! I wanted to tell you, but I didn't wanna make things worse," Terra stammered.

"How could things be _worse_?!" Starfire demanded.

"If you thought they meant to do it, but they didn't. I know you don't believe them, I didn't either at first, but they're a mess," Terra said.

"They have still done it, and I do not forgive them!" Starfire exclaimed.

The noise from the game stopped and the others looked over from the couch.

"What's up, Star?" Cyborg asked.

"Yeah, what gives? I'm about to kick Wally's butt here," Beast Boy said, "come watch."

"I am not in the mood for the video games!" Starfire yelled.

"Woah, easy Star, just calm down a bit and tell us what's wrong," Kid Flash said as he walked over.

She took a few deep breaths and tried to calm herself as the others joined her and Terra at the counter. Once everyone was settled, Starfire began telling them what Robin and Raven had told her. The others remained silent for the most part, content to listen, aside from a few noises of shock and murmurs of disbelief.

They looked from Starfire to Terra when she was mentioned, but Terra shook her head as to let Starfire continue. As she got to the end of the story, the others closed in around Starfire and Cyborg hugged her, as did Bumblebee and Kid Flash. Beast Boy looked to Terra but got no reaction as she was still mad at him.

"Can't believe it. They've never done anything like this," Cyborg said.

"Rae's emotions have got the best of us before, maybe it's like she said. What? You guys seen them? Not really nuts about each other until now," Beast Boy said.

"Maybe. Alcohol wouldn't help her control it either. Still, man, this is too much," Cyborg said.

"If it made them forget about Star, it had to be bad," Kid Flash interjected.

"Yeah, but where are they? Should at least talk to us," Bumblebee said.

"I do not want to see them," Starfire said.

Everyone around Starfire fell silent again and waited, but she didn't say anything else. She knew she would have to see them again eventually, but it was too much for now. The rest of the day felt like it would bring nothing, but more bad news and she didn't really want to go to the mall anymore. Beast Boy went to Terra and tried to put his arm around her, which she shrugged off.

"Are you gonna stop being mad?" Beast Boy asked.

"Uh, yeah, when you stop being an ass," Terra replied.

"I'm not-," Beast Boy started.

"Cool it, we don't need more fights today," Bumblebee said.

"Yeah, give it a rest," Cyborg agreed.

"Hey Star, wanna go to the mall?" Kid Flash asked.

"I do not think-," Starfire began.

"Yeah! We can get some lunch too, c'mon, Star," Bumblebee said.

"Very well," Starfire said.

"You guys have fun," Cyborg said with a smile, then looked to Beast Boy and Terra, "we'll hang out here."

Starfire left the room with Kid Flash and Bumblebee, leaving the other three standing around the counter. They were quiet for a while, but not motionless. Cyborg started looking around in the fridge for something they could have for lunch soon, while Terra avoided looking at Beast Boy, and he gazed back to the game's pause screen. It was good that Starfire was getting out, should keep her from thinking too much about what happened, they thought. Terra hoped she could at least talk to Robin or Raven soon, Cyborg wanted Starfire to feel better, and Beast Boy was wondering where Terra had gone last night after dropping the other two off.

It wasn't long before the door to the living room slid open again and Robin walked in, looking worse than he had before. Tears had left wet streaks down his cheeks and he had a fixed frown on his face. He walked over and stopped in front of them. The looks they gave him were a mix of anger and sadness.

"I uh, guess she told you?" Robin asked.

They nodded.

"Where's Rae?" Cyborg asked.

"Meditating in her room. This has taken its toll on her, me too," Robin replied.

"Dude. How could you?" Beast Boy asked.

"If she told you everything, then you know. I wasn't thinking clearly and Raven lost control of one of her emotions, messed with mine," Robin replied wearily.

"What's gonna happen with you two?" Cyborg asked.

"Haven't talked about it enough, but we'll keep seeing each other and figure it out from there. She just needs some time," Robin explained.

"What about the team? It's gonna be hard getting Star in a room with you and Rae," Beast Boy asked.

"We'll deal with it," Robin said, as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a sandwich from the fridge.

"We can help," Terra offered.

"Starfire's the one who needs your help, not us," Robin said.

"I still wanna hear Rae's side," Cyborg said.

"She's not going over it again… not good for her emotions right now," Robin said.


	5. Chapter 5

~RavensMind~

 **An Escapist Date**

 **Chapter 5: Sober and Frustrated**

No one had seen Raven for the rest of the day, following she and Robin's conversation with Starfire. It wasn't easy for the rest of the team to accept that she had to be left alone, as it usually wasn't, but Robin was clear – he would field any concern or question about the previous night so that she might meditate. Kid Flash and Bumblebee kept Starfire well away from the tower, distracting her as best they could at the mall, trying to make her feel better. Still fighting a hangover, Robin's answers to the rest of Cyborg and Beast Boy's questions were short and told them little more than what they needed to know. His concern was keeping the team together and civil in the wake of what happened.

Cyborg asked if Kid Flash and Bumblebee should stay longer, just to help with watching over the city if things got more complicated. Beast Boy wanted to know if he and Terra would have to take over some of Starfire or Raven's patrols or jobs around the tower. Terra asked if they would stay in the same room long enough to train or work anything out. Robin dismissed most of those concerns, confident that Raven and Starfire would keep their obligations to the team, it wasn't like they had left, or had given any sign that they wanted to leave. He did say that he thought it would be good if Kid Flash and Bumblebee stayed longer and that any help the others offered Starfire would be appreciated. He would handle Raven.

"Is that smart? Maybe she'll wanna talk to someone other than you," Terra suggested.

"If her emotions are messing with other people's emotions, I don't think the rest of you should be around her right now," Robin said, "I'm not sure if Star's anger earlier was completely hers."

"Think she can be as mad as she wants, dude," Beast Boy said.

"There's mad and then there's trying to attack me. No matter how angry we are at each other, we don't do that," Robin said.

"And you're gonna let her emotions mess with yours?" Cyborg asked.

"They already did. No sense letting it happen to the rest of you," Robin replied.

"It's not just like, one emotion?" Beast Boy asked.

"I don't know, but I'll find out," Robin said.

"I can help," Terra volunteered, "I know how to get through to her emotions. I learned it with Slade."

None of them said anything for a few beats. They remembered the events of Terra's betrayal all too well and having it pushed into view was still unsettling. Robin set his hand on her shoulder, giving her a weary smile.

"Okay, I'll keep it in mind, but let me try to talk to her first. You can help if I can't get anywhere," Robin said.

"Just let us know if she's okay, I don't like the rest of us being left hangin.' We should do something for Star, try to make her feel better," Cyborg said.

"Yeah. Wanna grab her favorite foods and I'll fetch some of her movies?" Beast Boy suggested.

"Sounds like good times to me, I'll grab the mustard," Cyborg said.

"And Robin, get Star's…uh, oh, right…never mind," Beast Boy muttered.

"She'll appreciate what you're doing, and I do too. Just don't go crazy, give her some space if she needs it," Robin said, "I need to check on some things, see if there's any trouble in the city or-."

"No. We've got it, go rest," Terra cut in.

"I need to-," Robin started.

"Chill. We can handle it, go take care of your hangover before you do anything else," Terra interrupted.

"What she said," Beast Boy added.

Terra had a point, Robin's hangover was still bothering him, making conversations seem both painful and tiring. He relented begrudgingly, saying that he'd go lay down for a while. The others watched him go, still not believing what he and Raven had done.

RrrrrRRRRRRRrrrrrr

Over the next few days, the team made it their focus to make Starfire feel better, with some success. Robin stayed out of the room if Starfire was in it, but if they had to be in the same place, they didn't acknowledge each other. The team finally saw Raven a couple days after her night out with Robin, but it was only because she had taken longer than she had planned to get lunch for herself, and she vanished through the floor before they could ask her any questions. Robin had tried to talk to her a few times, but she was avoiding him as well. He was convinced that she left the tower using her powers every time he went to knock on her door.

To prove his theory, Robin took out his communicator and turned on Raven's communicator's tracker, watching her small blip on his screen as he walked to her door. Once he reached her hallway, the blip moved from the tower to a place somewhere in the city. He frowned and decided he'd give her the space she wanted, for a while anyway. Another couple of days passed and he asked Terra if she had spoken with Raven at all. When she said no, he asked if she would help him as she had offered. He sent her to the spot that Raven had kept escaping to in the city, Terra called and told him it was a skyscraper with an unused balcony close to the top that looked out toward the tower and the river. Terra waited and when Robin walked into the hall by Raven's door, she appeared from a black raven made of her power to stand on the balcony, a few feet from where Terra hovered on a boulder.

"Hey Raven," Terra said with a small smile.

Surprised, Raven jolted with a small sound of shock and turned to Terra. She regarded her blond-haired friend with a frown and a suspicious glance. Her brow furrowed, and she spoke clearly into the soft breeze.

"How did you know where I'd be?" Raven asked.

"Magic. Never know what my powers'll do next," Terra said.

"Liar," Raven said.

Terra shrugged and stepped down off her boulder onto the balcony beside Raven. The boulder fell to the roof of the building with a thud.

"How do you think I knew, then?" Terra asked.

"You tracked me here," Raven replied.

"Sure, if you say so."

"No…otherwise you wouldn't have been here when I got here."

"Hmm, that's true."

"So, tell me."

"You know, right?"

"It was Robin, wasn't it?"

A smile curled Terra's lips and she nodded happily. Raven gave a short sniff to that and looked toward the tower, her gaze lost in the wide city before her.

"Gonna talk to him? Or us? Ever again?" Terra pressed.

"I needed some time," Raven replied.

"Uh, it's been days since you said anything, to anyone," Terra said.

"My emotions have been…difficult, I can't figure out how I lost control of one like this," Raven said.

"So, you're gonna stay away until you do?" Terra asked.

"Yes. I don't want this to be a problem again… _I_ don't want to be a problem again."

"Maybe it was the alcohol? Have you been drunk before that?"

"I don't know, maybe, and no, I haven't."

"So, stay away from it."

"Then what?"

"Talk to Robin, talk to Starfire, talk to us. We're still here."

Raven was quiet for a few moments, looking at the tower, considering. Her eyes returned to Terra and she spoke quietly.

"Do they hate me?" Raven asked.

"No! No, they're surprised and they're mad, but they still care about you. We just wanna know what's up and how we can all help," Terra said.

"And Starfire?"

"She's pissed, but I think she'll get through it, if you keep being her friend."

"And Robin?"

"You know, it's not like he just likes the sound of knocking on your door, he wants to see you."

"I know what he wants, but…I shouldn't be doing this. I can't give him what he'd ask for."

"Yeah, you could, kinda have to find out, right?"

"Why are you encouraging this? It's caused nothing but pain for us."

"No, it hasn't. I saw you, both of you, and that wasn't pain."

They stood with competing glances, Raven trying to break Terra's attempts with her will alone, and Terra, trying to bring Raven's concerns into the bigger picture. A glint of the sun flashed in Raven's eyes as it edged its rays over an office building that had been hiding it and she looked back to the tower with a sigh. Terra held her breath, waiting for her friend's decision.

"Alright, I'll talk to them…soon. And we'll see what happens," Raven said.

It seemed to satisfy Terra and she nodded before stepping up and looking down over the railing of the balcony to watch a series of cars pass, pointing out an interesting sports car to Raven, mostly to make conversation. Raven joined her and watched the cars pass. This spot had been nice for a few reasons, one being that there was enough distraction that one couldn't be totally isolated from the world, but still be alone.

A red moped weaved around a few cars in the right lane and came to rest outside of small crafts store. Terra frowned at it and turned her head to the other side of the street. It was a small motion, but Raven noticed it all the same. There were few things that could have evoked that response and it wasn't hard to guess that it had been something about Beast Boy. His pursuit of the vehicle had been an infatuation of sorts.

"So…how're things with Beast Boy?" Raven asked, trying to sound casual.

"Still bad. Like, he keeps volunteering me for things with him and still just thinks I'll go along with his ideas without asking," Terra said.

"I'm guessing your words aren't getting through to him?" Raven asked.

"Nope. I don't know what else I can tell him though," Terra said.

"Why not try turning it on him? Make him go along with your ideas?" Raven suggested.

"Maybe. But I don't even wanna hang out with him is the thing," Terra said.

"Try it anyway, whether you want to or not. I think he'll see things your way."

"Yeah, sure... I doubt it, but I'll try."

"I think I'll go back to the tower. Thanks, for talking to me…Hey, wanna hang out soon? I think we could both use a break."

"Anytime Rae, sounds cool! I'm gonna grab some pizzas for tonight before I head back, but I'll catch ya later," Terra said.

Raven soared for the tower as Terra used her power to pull the boulder from the roof and leapt on it, heading for the pizza place. On the way back to the tower, Raven considered what she should do first, she didn't want Robin to keep checking on her until she was ready to talk and thought that facing the others later would be tougher without support. She may as well see him for a few minutes. Sudden heat rose in her face and she felt the emotion responsible, still strong, rooted in her mind. Passion. She knew what to call it at least, but little in the way of keeping it under her usual control.

Even without alcohol, the emotion had power that worried her. Meditation helped, but she'd need to do it more often if she wanted to keep it under complete control. Thinking of him had been enough to summon the emotion. It still didn't bode well for the next heated fight with a criminal, unless she could get a better handle on it somehow. She landed on the roof of Titans Tower and went inside, wondering what she'll say as she made her way to Robin's room. It wasn't hard, she would just knock, tell him that she was alright, and that she'd see the rest of them that night. Their longer talk could wait, until tomorrow maybe.

Raven knocked twice on Robin's door. She felt the heat rise in her face again, took a deep breath, and let it out just before the door slid open. Robin greeted her with a smile and leaned against the door frame.

"Good to see you out of your room," Robin said, "was starting to worry."

She said nothing to this. He let her in his room and closed the door behind her, thinking she needed a minute or two before she said anything. Without a word or warning, she spun around, pinned him to the wall, and pressed her lips to his for a hungry kiss. It stole his sense and breath, but as he reached a hand to her cheek, she pulled away and quickly moved to sit down on his bed.

With a shaky sigh, she crossed her arms before her and looked at him apologetically.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…my emotions haven't been easy to control the last few days," Raven said.

"Uh, no need to apologize, I'd rather it be a kiss than Trigon or a haunted house, after all," Robin said, referring to the last few times her emotions got out of hand, "Besides, I like it."

"I know you do," she said.

"You do too," he observed, crossing the room to stand in front of her.

"Please don't start that. I only came to tell you that I'm fine and I'd join all of you for dinner later. We can talk through… everything else tomorrow, if you like," she said.

"Okay. Did you talk to Terra?" he asked.

"I did. Nice plan, by the way," she said.

"Not sure what you're talking about," he smirked.

"Right, because Terra guessed where I'd be at that exact time today," she said dryly, "I should compare notes with her on what the future holds."

"Would be a lively discussion," he remarked.

"Not really," she said as she got to her feet.

He put a hand on her shoulder just as she started for the door.

"Going already? Was hoping you'd help me with something," he said.

"Which is?" she asked.

"I've been covering your share of the chores and patrols while you've been meditating the last few days. Mind joining me for mine tomorrow?" he asked.

"Sure, it's only fair," she said.

"Figure it'd make it easier for us to talk and get some things done too," he said.

"And keep me out of my room, in front of the others," she said, guessing the rest of his plan.

"They're worried about you too, Rae," he said.

"I doubt Starfire is," she said.

"Cyborg talked to her, so did Terra and Beast Boy, Kid Flash too, she's starting to see how this happened, and how it could get worse, but she's still upset. She'll come around at some point," he said.

"If you say so. I'll see you at dinner."

With a smile, he moved his hand up along her neck and rested it on her cheek. She flinched and red flushed her face. His thoughts transported him briefly to several nights ago, dancing with her, then the fumbling with her clothes and naked pale skin beneath him in her warm bed. Memories of that night were fragmented, but even scraps of them set his heart pounding.

"Maybe you should stay…or uh, at least kiss me goodbye," he said.

"I-I don't think that's," she started, then sighed and quietly said, "okay."

He leaned in and brought his lips to hers in a long, lingering kiss. He wanted more sober moments like this with her. He hoped she did too. It seemed like it, as she let him hold and deepen their kiss as long as he needed. He broke the kiss and stepped back. Her eyes were seeking his behind his mask. She wrapped her arms around him and gently settled her thigh in between his legs.

"I _have_ missed this with you. My emotions weren't letting me think of much else for over a day once I got passed the hangover," Raven confessed.

"Then stay, I've got nothing planned this afternoon, and the team won't miss us 'till dinner," Robin said.

"Part of me wants to, but I can't. I need to meditate again," she said.

"Ok, guess I'll see you at dinner," he said.

She nodded and let him go, walking to the door, trying her best not to look back or stop.

"See you then. Oh, and you might want to talk some sense into Beast Boy, I don't think the team can handle two break ups at once," she said before she left the room.

It was true, Terra and Beast Boy had been arguing a lot more the past few days. _Weeks was more like it_ , Robin thought. If his breakup with Starfire was unexpected, Terra and Beast Boy's would look more like an oncoming train. Hard to miss. Something had to be done, things were complicated enough. What could he do? Sitting them down and talking through things wouldn't go well, since he had made a few mistakes of his own and hadn't quite fixed things yet. One on one, maybe he had a better chance.

Robin still had plenty of time before dinner to talk to at least one of them, both if the conversations were quick. He didn't want to rush either conversation though. Learning more than he needed to know about the relationship of the pair didn't exactly thrill him either, but if it helped, it had to be done. He set out to find Beast Boy.

RrrrrrrRRRRRrrrrr

Cries of joy and excitement erupted from the group of kids around the arcade dancing game nearby. The arcade was noisy and cheerful in the warm afternoon. Robin and Beast Boy stood at adjacent skee ball games, rolling balls up into the numbered holes. They hadn't been in the arcade too long. Robin had found him arguing with Cyborg over who cheated in their last match in a fighting game in the living room. He broke it up and suggested that the arcade would be fun. Cyborg asked to join them, but Bumblebee seized the opportunity to challenge him for another game. Luckily, Starfire was out on patrol and Terra had yet to return from getting the pizzas. Kid Flash came along, though Robin tried to dissuade him.

Kid Flash decided to challenge a kid to the dance game, naturally making it impossible for the other kid to win. Not like he could help it. So, he was responsible for the excited crowd. It's not often anyone gets to see perfect, lightning-quick response time, after all. Robin hoped Terra got plenty of pizzas, Kid Flash was going to need a big recharge at the rate he was moving.

Beast Boy rolled three balls into the same, low-scoring hole. In determination, he tossed another, but it missed every hole. Robin rolled a perfect ball next, turning to Beast Boy as the crowd behind them cheered on Kid Flash for a perfect song score.

"You ok? Seem kinda distracted," Robin said.

"Yeah, well, not like it's my fault, unless you believe Terra," Beast Boy said.

"What's wrong, exactly?" Robin asked.

"She says I don't talk to her, like, I don't ask what she wants, and that I keep doing things without asking her," Beast Boy said.

"Is that all?" Robin asked.

"Pfft, isn't that enough?" Beast Boy asked.

"You're sure?" Robin pressed.

"Yeah. What? Shouldn't I be able to do something without asking her all the time? I can think for myself," Beast Boy said.

"I think it's more that you don't ask her when it involves her," Robin said, "you assume she'll go along with it."

"So, you _have_ talked to Terra," Beast Boy said, tossing a ball with more force.

"Not thoroughly, but enough to know," Robin said.

"What, are you gonna interrogate her?" Beast Boy asked.

"You wish," Robin joked.

"Hey, yeah, you could tell me what she says," Beast Boy said.

"No, if you can't figure this out between the two of you, then we'll see what we can do," Robin said, throwing a ball and missing completely.

Beast Boy set his next ball down and glanced back at Kid Flash for a second as the crowd cheered again, then turned to face Robin.

"What's that mean?" Beast Boy asked.

Copying Beast Boy, Robin set his ball down and turned to him.

"With everything that's been going on the last few days, we can't deal with more fighting on the team," Robin said, "if I have to call the team in for a meeting complete with rules to fix this, I will."

"That's stupid, we can fix our own problems," Beast Boy protested.

"I still hope so, but we'll see. Starfire still won't talk to me, Raven has been avoiding everyone, and if Terra stops talking to you, it's another thing to account for in our rotations and everything else," Robin explained.

"Relax dude, I've got it, Terra isn't gonna break up with me. It's not like I cheated on her," Beast Boy retorted.

Robin fixed Beast Boy with a glare before he turned back to the skee-ball machine and collected his tickets, saying nothing. Beast Boy realized his mistake and caught Robin's shoulder as he started for the prize counter.

"Sorry Rob, didn't mean it like that, wasn't thinking," Beast Boy said.

"Might wanna start doing that more," Robin muttered as he shrugged out of Beast Boy's grip and kept walking.

"Hey! It's not like it's any of your business what Terra and I do anyway, and I think about her plenty, dude!" Beast Boy raged at him.

Spinning around, Robin marched back and loomed over Beast Boy, even though he wasn't that much taller, it was the presence he gathered in the swell of his leadership role. Kids from the crowd had looked over at the sound of Beast Boy's voice and started alerting their friends to the two Titans' heated discussion.

"It _is_ my business! You're a part of this team and that team exists because we look after each other and keep the peace of this city, which we can't do if we're avoiding each other and fighting each other. Fix your problems with Terra, or let her go, either way, it needs to happen. We're already dealing with me and Star's break up, we don't need more problems, so figure it out!" Robin roared back.

The arcade was quiet as everyone watched Robin and Beast Boy's argument. Beast Boy opened his mouth to speak, but Robin was already walking off to the ticket counter, so he shut it again, before he said something he couldn't take back. Looking around, Beast Boy frowned at the attention they had drawn and turned back to the skee-ball machine, determined to act like nothing had happened. Kid Flash appeared at his side a few moments later.

"Did he get a shitty score or something?" Kid Flash joked.

"Nah, was just something I said," Beast Boy said regretfully.

"Gonna apologize?" Kid Flash asked.

"Don't think so. Better to do what he says when he's like this instead. Dude, I swear he's two different people sometimes," Beast Boy replied.

"That might fix Starfire and Raven's problem," Kid Flash joked.

Beast Boy laughed and passed Kid Flash a ball, which he tossed and missed every target hole.

"How'd the dancing go?" Beast Boy asked.

"Won every song. Broke the record on all of 'em," Kid Flash replied.

"Nice, dude! Did you play anything else?" Beast Boy asked.

"Not yet, wanna try that driving game over there?" Kid Flash asked.

Everything calmed down in the arcade after a while. Robin hadn't joined Beast Boy or Kid Flash at the racing game, choosing instead to shoot virtual aliens, trying to calm himself down. It had been lucky for him and Beast Boy that they had drawn a crowd, otherwise he would've continued his tirade. The fact that he hadn't tried to smooth things over with Starfire yet had risen in his mind after telling Beast Boy he should be talking to Terra. He knew he should follow his own advice. However, he needed a peace offering.

There were a few things that came to mind. He settled on one that would make it clear what it was he wanted to repair and how he still thought of her without giving an impression of anything else. Getting it wouldn't be a problem, but if he wanted to get it today, he was running out of time before they had to head back to the tower. He didn't want to rush Kid Flash and Beast Boy out of the arcade, so he went alone, and knew he wouldn't be missed. True enough, Kid Flash and Beast Boy hadn't noticed he had left and returned to them an hour later. They only wondered what was in the box he carried at his side as he said it was time to head back to the tower.

Once they got back, Robin left them for a few minutes to speak with Raven and rejoined the pair as they were sitting down on the couch in the living room. Terra thrust a pizza box in their faces and they happily opened it. While Beast Boy hadn't said anything to Terra, or she to him, they weren't avoiding each other. It was better than arguments over good pizza. As if roused, Cyborg and Bumblebee entered the room and Cyborg made a show of sniffing the air before bounding over and seizing a few slices. The team laughed and ate before the sound of the sliding doors announced another titan's arrival.

Raven slowly crossed the room and snagged a piece of pizza, sitting on the couch next to Cyborg near stealthily. They greeted her as if she had returned from a long trip on which she sustained an injury and that level of concern wasn't lost on her. None of them grilled her on what happened, what she had been doing since, or what would come next. It was easier for Kid Flash and Bumblebee to bring her around to normal conversations, she wasn't as used to their emotions and presence. If her core team members had tried, she'd know if they tried to pull her into false talk. Before long, the group had the TV on as they chatted and munched on their food. Terra got up and went to grab some drinks and Beast Boy followed her to talk, but before he could say anything, the doors slid open and Starfire greeted them with a small smile, heading down to join the rest of the team.

The smile on Starfire's face faded as her eyes picked out Robin and Raven amongst the others on the couch. She didn't leave, but she didn't go to the couch. She realized that she couldn't make herself ruin the fun by leaving immediately, but she didn't want to be around either of them. Raven wouldn't meet Starfire's gaze and she dropped it to the pizza box before her, but Robin kept his head up, and his masked eyes fixed on Starfire. No one had said a word. Only sounds from the TV drifted over the silence.

"I was not aware everyone would be present," Starfire said, as coolly as she could manage without dipping into anger.

"Yeah, dude, it's pizza night, we never miss it," Beast Boy said.

"Unless some bad guy screws it up," Cyborg noted.

"Who messed it up last time?" Kid Flash asked.

"Dr. Light," Raven said quietly.

Starfire looked incensed at Raven's voice and seemed to stand taller.

"Not very bright," Bumblebee said.

"Right?!" Beast Boy asked.

"We all do some pretty stupid things," Robin said.

Robin got off the couch and motioned for Raven. She got up as well, reluctantly, but she joined him before Starfire. Everyone was quiet again, watching as Robin pulled something small out of his utility belt. Raven held her hand out and Robin set his alongside hers, together holding what Robin had pulled from his belt. On a silver strand, small balls of red, blue, and orange shone brightly under the lights. Starfire looked stricken and looked from one to the other as they slightly bowed their heads to her.

"It's not much, we know," Robin continued.

"But we hope it's a start," Raven added.

The necklace they offered was identical to the ones she had gifted them all in celebrating friendship for her alien holiday of Blorthog. The colors clearly chosen represented Raven, Robin, and Starfire. Friends. It was true, it wasn't enough, but it meant a great deal to Starfire.

"Am I meant to forgive you?" Starfire asked.

"No. I don't know if you'll ever do that," Robin replied.

"I wouldn't blame you if you didn't accept every apology we gave you," Raven said.

Starfire reached out and took the necklace, holding it before her. On the one hand, she knew she could not deny its meaning and treat them as they had her, but it also verged on cheapening the special holiday's true intent. Still, their message was clear. They wouldn't stop being her friends. She had seen what happens if she left, the team dissolves, they go their own way, only returning to find each other when they were in need. Robin would work alone, Raven would have no one, Beast Boy would be doing tricks for spectators, and Cyborg would slowly fall into disrepair. No matter what they faced, she wanted her friends to be together. It didn't change what they had done to her, it hurt, even looking at them was hard.

"This _is_ a wonderful thing to give, but what shall we do? I am…not sure I am ready to accept it," Starfire said.

"Keep it, if it only means that you'll talk to us, so we can stop avoiding each other, and uh, figure this out. We're not gonna get along otherwise, and we owe it to you, the team, and ourselves to try. I don't know if we'll ever move past this, but it shouldn't keep us from enjoying things like this together," Robin said, motioning behind him to the others and the pizzas.

"I suppose you are correct, we cannot continue as we have the past few days, but neither can I forget what you have done," Starfire said.

"We've all been through too much together to ruin it now. We've survived betrayals before, we'll heal from this one too," Raven noted.

Eyes flicked to Terra when Raven mentioned betrayal. She flinched, but she didn't say anything, this was about Starfire right now, not her. There was plenty she could've said to that, though. Slade had used her, and she had been the willing tool to destroy the team from within before she realized her terrible choice. Words wouldn't be enough to make up for her actions then, but there were things she could do to be better than she had been. The others understood as much in the moment as Starfire's hands shook, closing her fingers over the gift.

Starfire put the necklace over her head and displayed the small token across her throat with her fingers. The others let out a collective sigh of relief, but Robin and Raven stood firmly, with cautious smiles.

"It is pizza night, yes? Shall we eat and watch the bad movies?" Starfire asked with a smile.

"Hey! They're not all bad!" Beast Boy protested.

"No, Invasion of the Hay Swindlers was surely a masterpiece," Raven said dryly.

"It was Invasion of the Skull Thieves! You can't forget the robots that stole the brains of humans to study and destroy them!" Beast Boy said.

"Yes, it had a poor view of aliens," Starfire said.

"And bad reviews," Robin added.

"And lame action scenes," Cyborg said.

"And bad CGI," Kid Flash noted.

"And lousy music," Bumblebee said.

"And dumb characters," Terra added.

"Okay! I get it! Just stop already," Beast Boy cut in, "we gonna watch something or not?"

Starfire followed Robin and Raven as they went back to the couch and sat down together. Robin passed Starfire some pizza, which she politely took. The rest of the group relaxed, once they were convinced that a shouting match wasn't imminent. Cyborg started sifting through the list of movies available next.

Terra grabbed some sodas from the fridge and set them in front of Beast Boy, expecting him to take some over to the others. He was still standing there when she looked up from getting more out of the fridge. She set the others down and cocked her head. They considered each other for a moment before he spoke.

"Wanna do something tomorrow?" Beast Boy asked.

"Kinda feel like grabbing dinner, sound good?" Terra asked.

"Totally, where?" he asked.

"First hole in the wall grill we pass in the city," she suggested with a laugh.

"Cool! Look, uh, I'm sorry I've been a jerk, I'll make it up to you, ok?" he said.

"Okay, but we're gonna talk about this again. I wanna be sure we're good," she said.

"Sure," he said.

He scooped some soda cans into his arms and she followed with another armload over to the others on the couch.

The air cleared on a few counts, the team could relax for the night together. Knocking back sodas and munching pizza, they made it through a hammy action movie before any of them started getting tired. At a point during their next movie choice, Robin got up, saying he was going to go over a case file, and that he'd probably back when they started a third movie. He took his soda and a piece of pizza with him as he left.

Robin's departure left Raven sitting next to Starfire on the couch, like they had been sectioned off from the others. Kid Flash slid a bit closer to use the space and ask Starfire what she was doing the following day. Cyborg and Beast Boy started going at it over whether the movie was a sequel or prequel to another series, with Terra and Bumblebee reigning them in when they got too loud. While the others were distracted by this, Starfire subtly leaned over and whispered in Raven's ear, "I wish to speak with you, after our friends have gone to bed. Is that…ok?"

Considering for a moment, Raven nodded, "Yeah."

An hour later, the group was taking turns yawning, but the credits weren't close. Bumblebee made her way to bed first, Beast Boy was next, tossing his empty soda can into the sink as he left, then Terra finished a final slice of pizza and headed for her room, Kid Flash and Cyborg lingered, talking about playing some games the next day, before they went to sleep. The movie wasn't over, so the two girls slid to the center of the couch and watched the ending together. Raven had been stealing a few minutes here and there to read a small book in her lap during the boring segments. Starfire was sipping a soda, focusing on the odd movie until it ended.

When the credits rolled, Starfire turned off the movie and the TV, then quietly shifted to look at Raven. They hadn't said much to one another after Robin left the room, but they weren't actively ignoring each other. Starfire passed Raven a soda as Raven marked her place in her book and set it down.

"Weird movie," Raven said.

"Yes, I…do not think we should watch any more from that series," Starfire said.

"The others missed that twist, lucky us," she said dryly.

"I did not like the large insects that flew from that woman's stomach," Starfire said.

"It wasn't her stomach, but um, yeah, me either," Raven said.

Raven took a sip of her soda and glanced out the window as Starfire set the remote down. Neither felt like they knew what they should say. Starfire at least knew what she wanted to say, but expressing it wasn't easy. Raven took another sip and then a deep breath before she spoke.

"I'd ask what you wanted to talk about, but it's not hard to guess…. So, where did you want to start?" Raven asked.

"Yes, well, I have had time to think about what you two have done. I…remember what it was like to use your powers, and how difficult it is to control all your emotions. If your control of them was taken, I suppose we are all lucky that what you two did is all that came of it. I am still having trouble with how your emotions got out of control," Starfire explained.

"Almost positive it was the drinks. First time I've had any alcohol, will probably be the last, too," Raven replied.

"A drink can impair your mind?"

"Yeah, these could, if you have a lot of them."

"And you had never had one before?"

"Never."

"I do not believe I have either…Still, this is only one part of what I wished to ask you about. You said that your emotions influenced his, that they would only be able to do that if his he had feelings for you, so, do you believe that they are still influencing his?"

"No, my emotions are under control now, what he feels now is unimpaired, uninfluenced."

"How did his feelings for you start?"

"I think that's a question for him. My feelings for him, well, they um, they were being ignored, and I think I've had them for a long time, but I'm not sure how they started. Hard to pin down."

"You said you had been talking with him about me, helping him work out some problems with me. I do not wish to know everything you said, just if you um…meant to help him."

"Yeah, I wanted you both to work through things and stay together, I never tried to break you up. I didn't go to him, he came to me. I wanted what was best for both of you."

Starfire shifted on the couch and took a few deep breaths. Raven sipped from her drink as she kept her eyes on her friend, almost sure that if she took her eyes off her, she would explode or disappear in a flight of tears. Starfire calmed some part of herself in the next moment, the air leaving her lungs in a clear escape.

Raven became aware of Robin's presence just outside one of the side doors to the living room through their bond. Clearly, he was listening in on their conversation. She hoped that he would stay hidden until she could have this all out with Starfire. Determined to fix things, she felt it was the only path forward that offered the least heartache. She would talk all night if that's what was needed.

"I believe you. I spoke with the others about all of this. I…want what is best for all of us, and if that means you and Robin are…more than friends, then I shall accept that. What I wish to ask is that while I um, adjust, I would like it if you and Robin would not um, kiss or, do things like that around me," Starfire said.

"That's fair, I'll tell Robin when I get a chance," Raven said.

"Thank you," Starfire said.

"I know it'll take a while for everyone to adjust, but if there's anything that'll help you, I will do what I can."

"There is something else. You have not been speaking with us for a few days, have you been avoiding him as well?"

"I um, yeah, up until today I haven't seen him."

"Promise me that you will spend time with him."

"I-Wait, what?"

"He is troubled. If you have been helping him, he needs it now, and I believe you do as well. You two have been avoiding each other and the rest of us. It is not good. I do not want this to continue like it has been."

"To be clear, I have been meditating alone to regain my control, he has tried to talk to me."

"Oh. I see."

"I will spend more time with him though, I promise."

"That is all I ask."

"Would you mind if I um, asked you for something?"

"What is it?"

"Hang out sometime? I'll go to the mall with you."

"I'd like that," Starfire said with a chuckle, "I am upset with you, but we shall work through it and still be friends."

"That's the idea. He and I don't deserve you as a friend, you're too nice about this."

"After speaking with the others and receiving your gift, I have realized just how much we could lose if this problem is not fixed between us. Kid Flash and Terra helped me see that."

As Raven reached for her soda, Robin walked in through the side door and waved to them. They waved back and he walked over to join them on the couch. He hadn't heard everything they had said, but he caught a good portion of their conversation. He wasn't about to tell them that though. They didn't continue talking, mostly due to his interruption. It hadn't been meant for him to hear or join.

"You two okay?" Robin asked.

Raven and Starfire nodded.

"Good, so, did I miss some cool movies?" Robin asked.

"Not really, I'd say you were the lucky one," Raven replied.

"Yes, they were not remarkable," Starfire added.

"Shame, was looking forward to watching one before bed," Robin said.

"We could look for another," Raven suggested.

"Yeah? Either of you tired?" Robin asked.

"The opposite, actually," Raven said.

"I am hardly sleepy," Starfire said.

"Okay, let's see if we can find a movie," Robin said.

Starfire passed Robin the remote and he flipped through the lists of available movies. They settled on a crime thriller called The Dead Street, where a neighborhood is terrorized by a spree killer with a penchant for confetti and graffiti. It turned out to be better than expected and they were glued to the screen until the credits rolled.

Robin had unconsciously settled closer to Raven with his arm behind her on the back of the couch during the movie. He only noticed as he was setting the remote down, but Starfire was looking at him with something like hurt in her eyes. He scooted away from Raven and withdrew his arm when he sat back from adjusting his boot. She softened her gaze and let him off the hook in her mind. They spoke of how much they enjoyed the movie before Robin shifted topics.

"So, I think I actually have a lead on Red X," Robin said, "Raven and I will check it out on our patrol tomorrow, it might be nothing, but if it's not, we'll need to be ready."

"Hope it's good, he's been free for too long," Raven said.

"What is the lead?" Starfire asked.

"I'll brief you and the rest of the team tomorrow, but I'm tired, so I think I'll go to bed," Robin replied.

"Right, me too," Raven said.

"I am sleepy as well, thank you for talking with me, Raven," Starfire said.

"And thank _you_ , Star, we'll hang out soon," Raven said.

"Of course!" Starfire said.

The three of them said good night and went their separate ways. For each of them, it felt like a major load had been lifted off their minds. Progress on their problem had been made and that alone made them all feel like it was possible to work through things. Robin hoped they could keep things as amenable as they had that day, Raven wanted to be the friend to Starfire that she had once been, and Starfire would keep focusing on the everlasting friendships she knew the team should have.

As late as it was, it felt like there should be more to the day to Robin. Much had been done, true, but things were still hanging on him, even as he got ready for bed. He wanted to talk to Starfire alone too. Things would still be difficult between them unless they ironed out a couple more issues. Just as he was taking off his cape, there was a knock at his door. He hung his cape and walked to the door. Raven's nervous face greeted him when he opened it.

"Hey," Raven said.

"Hey," Robin echoed.

"I-I know you overheard some of what Starfire and I were saying, so I'm here to…spend the night with you, if that's something you'd want," Raven said.

"Oh, uh, yeah, that would be uh, really nice," Robin said.

"You can say 'no' if you're not sure… and um, I'm only going as far as kissing, ok?"

"I'm sure, I'd like you to stay, and... kissing is uh, great."

"Alright."

She took a deep breath and exhaled as he let her in his room. He went over to his dresser, letting her relax in her own time, and undid his belt. As he was taking off his boots, he heard her take several additional deep breaths before she sat on his bed. He pulled his shirt off and looked over his shoulder at her. She was undoing her cloak and boots, her face unreadable, but he could tell she was trying hard to contain her emotions. Still in his tights, he put his dirty clothes on his dresser and went back to her.

"Rae," he prompted.

She looked up from untying her belt and he leaned down, pressing his lips to hers in a soft kiss. She reached up and sank her hand into his hair, keeping her mouth on his. He finished untying her belt for her and set it next to her before he pulled out of the kiss. A tiny blissful smile played on her face as she looked at him.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Guess I have some magic too, huh?"

"In a way," she said with a small laugh, "the best kind."

((Next chapter teaser: action scene, maybe a love scene, and a test.))


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